Dark skies: City of Missoula to explore updates to lighting ordinance
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Citing changing technology and the need to update the city's ordinance on lights, the Missoula City Council on Monday will direct staff to explore new standards aimed at strengthening night sky protections.
The measure, introduced by council member Kristen Jordan last week, would also assess the city's path toward achieving designation as an International Dark-Sky Association Community.
“We have an existing lighting ordinance, but it hasn't been updated since 2017,” Jordan said. “Since then, a lot of now-common dark sky protections aren't considered in our existing code.”
The ordinance change asks city staff to analyze a range of standards including uplight lumens, establishing a lumen curfew, setting standards on color temperatures and photometric verification, among others.
The city in 2016 set new lighting standards in an attempt to preserve Missoula's night sky. Various city plans currently call for a balance between development and environmental protections. Jordan said night sky preservation should be considered environmental stewardship.
“There's a lot of policy alignment with this request with our existing policy,” she said. “But it's been untouched since, and lighting technology and standards have moved on. Our new Unified Development Code (UDC) doesn't have any lighting standards.”
The city's effort to preserve the night sky actually dates back to 2008. But in 2016, it was elevated when a new Verizon store in downtown Missoula raised the public's ire when it opened – wrapped in red neon lights that failed to comply with the 2008 policy.
The blazingly bright retail building prompted City Council to consider a ban on neon lighting. While that was then, members of City Council now agree that it's time to revisit the city's 2017 lighting ordinance.
“This is a good time to address it,” said council member Gwen Jones. “We're heading into a period of hopefully more intensive development following our adoption of the UDC. This is a well-taken motion. It's good to steer us toward less light pollution if possible rather than the status quo.”
The city also has made progress on light pollution, in part through a partnership with Northwestern Energy. In 2020, the city and the utility inked an agreement to convert old streetlights to LEDs. The result lowered the city's electricity costs by an estimated $80,000 annually and directed the new lights downward.
“Light pollution is a real issue,” said council member Amber Sherrill. “I'm glad we're going to take a look at it.”
While Jordan had initially set a September deadline for the analysis by city staff, that measure was extended in consideration of staff's current push to implement the new Unified Development Code.
The lighting study will now be incorporated into the Department of Planning and Development's FY 27 work plan
“We're in the middle of the UDC implementation and in the prime of our building season,” said Director Eran Pehan. “This needs to be a comprehensive effort. It lives across many departments.”