Zoners Debate, Table Sports Night-Lighting Change

A proposal to raise the permitted height of sports facility lighting has generated controversy in Hamden among light sleepers, bird migration enthusiasts, and critics of Quinnipiac University’s role in the possible zoning change.

That controversy was on display Tuesday evening, when Hamden’s Planning and Zoning Commission weighed a potential amendment to Section 580 of the town’s zoning regulations. The amendment would regulate outdoor recreational sports facility lighting, which current zoning rules do not specifically address.

After public debate, the commissioners voted unanimously to table the amendment until their next meeting in September.

Currently, sports lighting fixtures in the town have been classified as ​“structures,” which the town limits to a height of 35 feet. The zoning amendment would grant the commission authority to permit sports lighting fixtures taller than that 35 foot limit.

The zone change was proposed a year after Quinnipiac University submitted — and then withdrawn — an application to install 50-foot lighting fixtures in new tennis courts. (Click here to read a previous New Haven Register story about that.) Quinnipiac is still planning to go forward with 50-foot light poles, exploring an option to locate the tennis courts in North Haven while Hamden reconsiders its zoning rules.

The proposed amendment would require the lights to be off between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., controlled by an either automatic or remote shut-off system. (There are currently no regulations governing the when recreational outdoor lighting can be lit.)

Commissioner Michele Mastropetre expressed concern that the 10 p.m. shut-off time would allow lights to remain bright too late, disrupting Hamden residents’ sleep. ​“There are a lot of parks and playing fields in neighborhoods,” she said.

In response, Commissioner Joseph McDonagh pointed out the amendment’s language that lights be shut off ​“no later than 10 p.m.,” which he said would allow the commission to institute earlier shut-off times on a case-by-case basis.

“The idea is to give flexibility,” McDonagh said.

Attorney Bernard Pellegrino was the sole member of the public who testified in support of the amendment.

He argued that taller lights would actually minimize light pollution, a claim backed up by the International Commission on Illumination. Taller lights can point directly at the field and sufficiently light up the area, Pellegrino said, whereas shorter poles need to tilt sideways — and ​“spill” more unnecessary light into the sky — in order to light up a comparable amount of space.

Several critics of the proposed zoning change disagreed with this analysis, arguing that shorter poles in fact lower light pollution. Some industry experts take this view for a variety of reasons, including the notion that a beam traveling a greater distance to reach the ground will experience more ​“light loss” — requiring more, or stronger, lights to illuminate a given field.

One of those critics was local light pollution activist Bob Pattison. ​“The people of Hamden don’t want stadium lighting next to their bucolic West Woods homes,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting. Concerned about the sound generated by nighttime events as well, Pattison suggested a 6 p.m. shut-off time for stadium events on weeknights, and 9 p.m. on weekends.

Craig Repasz called attention to the birds that migrate above the town at night, whose navigation can be disrupted by bright lights. Light pollution has been linked to loss of biodiversity among insects and other wildlife.

Meanwhile, Elaine Dove criticized the zoning amendment because of its timing after Quinnipiac’s initial proposal. ​“This is backward planning,” Dove said, arguing that zoning rules should not be drafted in reaction to individual projects.

At the hearing’s conclusion, Commissioner Charles Elbert echoed this sentiment. ​“I think we need to step back and rethink this,” he said. ​“We shouldn’t be playing favorites in the city of Hamden – especially not to people who don’t pay taxes,” he added, alluding to the local tax breaks that Quinnipiac and other universities receive through the state charter.