Mid-April is peak time for migrating birds to cross the eastern seaboard, which is why DarkSky International selects the middle of the month each year for a week-long educational campaign to encourage ways to reduce light pollution.
This month both the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council recognized April 13 through April 20 as Dark Sky Week.
A member of the Albemarle Natural Heritage Committee took the opportunity on April 8 to remind elected officials that the new Comprehensive Plan calls for the county to update its lighting ordinance and to enforce the existing one which requires “full cut off” fixtures that shine all light downward.
“Unfortunately, there are many businesses that end up replacing lighting or updating lighting that does not comply,” said Christine Putnam. “This goes unchecked unless somebody makes a complaint.”
The topic came up at a subsequent meeting of the Albemarle Planning Commission on April 14, which included a public hearing for a special use permit for a house of worship to have gatherings for up to 400 people at a property at the interchange of Interstate 64 and U.S. 250. Crozet Fellowship Church bought the rural area property in 2024 and plans to construct a new building.
When asked if there would be outdoor lighting for the parking lot, a civil engineer representing the church said a decision had not yet been made.
“If any lighting were proposed it would certainly be dark sky compliant,” said Chuck Rapp with Collins Engineering.
After county planner J.T. Newberry said the church’s lighting would be reviewed when there are specific blueprints for a building, Commissioner Karen Firehock said there is a precedent for establishing requirements as part of a permit’s approval.
“We’ve conditioned that [an applicant] has to cut the lights after 9pm or whatever it is,” Firehock said. “We’ve done that.”
Newberry said there is nothing in the county’s existing ordinance to require that and that such a condition had not yet been proposed.
“No condition is necessary assuming the commission is comfortable with the existing lighting regulations that we have,” Newberry said.
Commissioner Lonnie Murray said that while the county has not yet begun the process of updating the lighting ordinance, scrutiny on individual applications could help advance county goals to fight light pollution.
“It’s something to keep in mind that the current ordinance is viewed by many as insufficient,” Murray said.
This idea prompted Neil Williamson of the pro-business Free Enterprise Forum to push back on reviewing the proposal against ordinance changes that have not been made.
“This commission should not be concerned about what some people maybe want, but instead should focus on what the ordinance is,” Williamson said.
Firehock responded that the Planning Commission’s job is to recommend conditions to offset the impacts of developing in the county’s rural area.
“This one has the potential to add additional lighting in a rural area that’s primarily agricultural,” Firehock said. “So it’s well within our purview if we would like to recommend that lights go off at a certain time of night.”
Planning staff said they would work with the church to develop language on a lighting condition when the permit goes before the Board of Supervisors. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the approval.
As for the lighting ordinance, county spokeswoman Abbey Stumpf says staff will have a better idea of when changes might be reviewed as the third phase of a zoning modernization gets underway.
