Fairfax County supervisors on Sept. 12 set a pair of future public hearings to discuss a proposed zoning-ordinance amendment that would impose additional outdoor-lighting restrictions on property owners living within a half-mile of Turner Farm Park Observatory in Great Falls.
Supervisors set public hearings on the matter before the Fairfax County Planning Commission on Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 21 at 3:30 p.m.
The proposed amendment would:
• Reduce the maximum illumination for motion-activated lights on single-family lots from 4,000 lumens to 1,500, consistent with the maximum amount for other exempt light fixtures.
• Limit the exemption for all other lights with up to 1,500 lumens on single-family lots to those lights located near doors or garages. The county also would exempt landscape and decorative lighting with up to 20 lumens of illumination.
• Add a limit of 300 lumens for uplights or spotlights.
• Allow legally existing lights to remain and have the new regulations apply to new or replaced fixtures.
