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Town looks at lighting standards

Posted on January 28, 2010January 28, 2010 by Staff

By Beth Mechum
Staff Writer

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen held its public hearings for January Tuesday night at the Carrboro Town Hall.

First up was a request to revise outdoor lighting standards. Shannon Brummett, a regional property manager with General Services Corp., was there to enquire about the light-pole regulation. He said he preferred one 25-foot light pole on his properties in Carrboro as opposed to the 15-foot poles the plan now calls for.

“We looked at the lighting and the crime in those areas and so on, and we knew we had to protect our residents, and this was one good means to do that,” Brummett said, citing the increased efficiency of one 25-foot pole compared to three 15-foot poles.

Both cover the same area, but Brummett said the costs and energy efficiency of just having to replace and upkeep one pole was somewhat better than the three.

The board asked for more time to hear from the Northern Transition Area Advisory Commission to further review lighting regulations.

In a curious aside, the existing ordinance as included in the meeting package includes a provision that states, “Lighting from a development may not produce a strong light or reflection beyond its lot lines or into the street and impair the vision of a dapper fellow,” though according to planning administrator Patricia McGuire the last of that sentence was a typographical error and was supposed to read, “Lighting … won’t impair vision of a driver of any vehicle upon such street.”

A public hearing on an ordinance amending the Carrboro Land Use Ordinance provisions, dealing with stream buffers in accordance with the Jordan buffer rules, was moved to March.

The board also adopted a resolution to reduce street-separation requirements in developments that connect to village mixed-use districts. The land-use ordinance previously stated that no two streets may intersect with any other street at a distance of less than 400 feet.

By reducing the length requirement, the streets theoretically become more pedestrian and bicycle friendly for the affected neighborhoods, according to McGuire. Winmore Subdivision has numerous intersections that are around 200 feet apart and one intersection of 110 feet.

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