JACKSON, Wyo. — The Teton County Planning Commission considered a text amendment to the county’s land development regulations (LDRs) relating to exterior lighting at its Monday meeting. Ultimately, the Commission approved a motion that would prohibit unshielded lights, prohibit certain colors of lights, and extend the holiday string-lighting exemption period by five days.
The proposal was brought to the Planning Commission by Samuel Singer, founder and executive director of local nonprofit Wyoming Stargazing. Singer has been working with the Town of Jackson and Teton County since 2015 to make the Milky Way more visible in the valley. He led the charge in getting Teton County certified as the first entire county to become an International Dark Sky Community last year.
In his presentation to the Planning Commission, Singer mentioned conservation heavyweights from local history like John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Mardy and Olaus Murie: “They really are responsible for shaping the valley in the way that it exists today. That really is the legacy of conservation that I’ve been trying to follow with my work with dark sky conservation. … There were lots of compromises that they made to get the job done. And I believe in my heart of hearts that it’s that type of compromise that is needed with dark sky conservation, because when the rubber meets the road, we’re going to meet our dark sky goals with voluntary compliance of the exterior lighting standard.”
The approved motion, which will go in front of the Teton County Board of County Commissioners next, was a pared-down version of the original proposal. The County’s Planning Director Chris Nuebecker did not recommend approval of the original proposal, due to the inclusion of rules that could have made consistency and enforcement difficult.
The streamlined proposal prohibits the use of unshielded lights, such as floodlights or spotlights, and exterior lights in the colors blue, green or purple. There are various exceptions for unshielded lights if they are used for security and use a timer or motion sensor. And lights of the prohibited colors are exempt if they are decorative string lights used during the exemption period. Also included in the new amendment is a five-day extension of the county’s holiday string-lighting exemption period, which, under the new guidelines, would begin on Nov. 15 and end on Jan. 15.
“I think it’s a good idea, I just worry about property rights, from my experience, living here for 10 years,” said Commissioner Bob Weiss. “Just thinking of my neighborhood, it would be very hard to dissuade people from having string lights, and trying to figure out how to educate them about the colors they can have. … I see the merits of the case, it’s just getting voluntary compliance, Mr. Singer, when your property’s involved, is sometimes hard to overcome.”
Currently, string lighting is banned in the LDRs for both the Town of Jackson and Teton County with a holiday exemption period for both. The exemption window in the Town of Jackson runs from Nov. 1 to April 15, and in the county from Nov. 15 to Jan. 10. If the new regulations are passed by the Board of County Commissioners, they would go into effect in July. Any lighting fixtures that are noncompliant would be grandfathered in unless the fixture needs to be replaced, which would require it be replaced with a fixture that complies. If the property owner applies for various permits, including a building permit, that would also trigger a necessity for compliance.
