Malibu’s Dark Sky Ordinance does not regulate street lighting on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), making the highway become too dark moving westward. Malibu city officials said there is no evidence of accidents caused by visibility on PCH.
“I haven’t gotten any complaints personally about safety on that side of town,” Malibu City Principal Planner Tyler Eaton said.
The City of Malibu enacted the Dark Sky Ordinance in October 2018, to allow for an unobstructed view of the night sky and combat the negative effects of light pollution on the environment. The Dark Sky Ordinance restricts outdoor light types, locations, times of use and Kelvin temperatures, according to the City of Malibu’s website.
Human lighting activities can lead to unintended consequences, Eaton said.
“The Dark Sky Ordinance is aimed at keeping light within your property and not trespassing onto other people’s property,” Eaton said. “But also making sure that light is being used purposefully, not just used for aesthetic reasons.”
Light is a precious resource, worthy of conservation, said Cami Winikoff, a Malibu community member who helped spearhead the movement toward Malibu’s adoption of dark sky restrictions.
“You turn it on when you need it, and you turn it off when you don’t,” Winikoff said.
The ordinance is specifically intended for private properties requiring fully shielded lights –– an onlooker observing light on a horizontal plane will notice the light emitted from dark sky-compliant shielded lamps will only face downward, Eaton said.
Currently, Malibu’s dark sky restrictions and regulations solely apply to gas stations, commercial buildings and residential properties in three separate parts, Winikoff said.
Dark Sky Ordinance Exceptions
There are exceptions to the ordinance with about eight deviations listed in the chapter including lights for the public right of way, Eaton said. He said PCH lighting falls under the domain of Caltrans and Southern California Edison. The Dark Sky Ordinance does not regulate PCH street lamps.
“Lighting, as it pertains to the Dark Sky Ordinance, does not apply to lighting for the public roadways because they want a certain amount of safety lighting,” Eaton said. “The roadways need to be adequately lit so people can traverse safely.”
Marc Bischoff, Caltrans’ public information officer, said safety is their top priority for all of their state highways and freeways, including PCH through Malibu.
“Caltrans is responsible for lighting at the intersections along Pacific Coast Highway through the city of Malibu,” Bischoff said. “These are light poles that generally support LED Luminaire lights, and some have extension arms for traffic signals.”
PCH street lamps do not need to be fully shielded or have a limit of 3000 Kelvin, Eaton said.
“They have a glass over the bulb, and that glass distributes light in all directions,” Eaton said.
While lamps on PCH intentionally emit more light than lights on private property, Malibu community members say it feels dark going westward toward Point Dume.
“It can be scary driving home late at night, because it is very dark on the roads, especially the parts where it’s open land on either side and there are no houses,” Pepperdine Alumnus Sabrina Krebs said.
It is significantly darker toward Point Dume because the area is more rural. There are fewer street lights and less light pollution, Councilmember Steve Uhring said.
“On the east side of town, where it’s more developed, you get the cumulative impact of lights and the shopping centers and the houses that kind of create a glow,” Eaton said. “And, as you get further west, the lots are larger, it’s more rural, so you’re not getting that glow.”
This decrease in lighting westward toward PCH does not technically pose concerns for visibility and safety along the highway, Uhring said.
“I’m not aware of any accidents that were caused by lighting on PCH,” Uhring said. “I have not had anybody come up and say that is a problem we need to address.”
He has not received any complaints about lighting and PCH safety on that side of town, Eaton said.
In the past year, only one report has been submitted to Caltrans District 7 concerning lighting along PCH through Ventura County, Bischoff said.
“There was a report of street lights out along State Route 1 between Oxnard Boulevard and Las Posas Road in Oxnard,” Bischoff said.
The Dark Sky Ordinance actually promotes better visibility with more consistent low lighting, Winikoff said. Visibility becomes an issue on the roads when the eye is quickly exposed to bright lights after the pupils have adjusted to low lighting, according to the International Dark Sky Association.
“So, when everything’s light, our pupils adjust to light,” Winikoff said. “When everything gets dark, our pupils adjust to the darkness. So, it must be a consistent low-level light in order for it to be pleasing.”
Possible expansions on the Dark Sky Ordinance
Expansion to the Dark Sky Ordinance could involve making PCH street lighting dark sky compliant, but there are currently no definite plans in place, Eaton said.
“I have heard talks that our public works department is considering looking at making the lights Dark Sky compliant, but I don’t know how far that’s gone, and I haven’t seen any projects in the pipeline for that,” Eaton said.
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