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The Madison City Council acted to limit the brightness of some residential light fixtures in its first in-person meeting in more than two years Tuesday night.
The change to the city’s light ordinance reduces the permitted brightness of unshielded light fixtures from 1,000 lumens to 500. That’s the equivalent of replacing a 70-watt light bulb with a 40-watt bulb.
The 16-2 vote was only the second change to the city’s light ordinance since its creation in 1993.
City staff said their approach to light violations will be driven by complaints. Enforcement is a last resort, and the vast majority of cases are remedied through conversation with residents, said Kyle Bunnow, a plan review and inspection supervisor for the city’s Building Inspection Division.
“This change will ultimately, in our opinion, largely impact those in residential neighborhood or non-commercial areas where you are likely to see bulb fixtures on the sides of doors or garages or on the peaks of garages,” Bunnow said.
The city sees around 125 complaints about lighting every year, with 75% of those about light that is spilling into areas where it isn’t wanted.
The ordinance change does not mean businesses will have to scramble to change their lighting or face municipal enforcement. The main targets of the ordinance change are homes that have unshielded outside light fixtures. Decorative lighting, such as Christmas trees, will not be subject to the ordinance.
Vote on changing city light ordinance
Voting for limiting brightness: Abbas, Benford, Bennett, Conklin, Currie, Evers, Figueroa-Cole, Foster, Furman Heck, Myadze, Paulson, Phair, Tishler, Verveer and Wehelie
Voting against: Carter, Harrington-McKinney
Light fixtures installed before 1993, when the city first created its light ordinance, will not be subject to the new light restrictions.
The only votes against the ordinance change were Barbara Harrington-McKinney, 1st District, and Sheri Carter, 14th District, who cited the potential financial impact on residents and already lax enforcement of brightness rules.
“This is an excellent example of a solution looking for a problem,” Carter said.
In tandem with the ordinance change, the council voted to commit to the “five principles of responsible outdoor lighting“ set forth by the International Dark-Sky Association and the Illuminating Engineering Society, groups dedicated to reducing light pollution:
The council also voted unanimously to create a new Downtown tax incremental financing district and to change the boundaries of an existing one.
The new district, TID 50, covers the greater State Street area between Capitol Square and Lake Street. A bid to keep pushing development in the major Downtown corridor, the plan is expected to provide more than $4 million in grants to businesses and shovel $15 million into financing public elements of a proposed, roughly $140 million redevelopment of a parking garage at 415 N. Lake St.
With TIF, the city and other local taxing entities agree to freeze property values in an area. Tax revenues from growth are then invested in private development or public infrastructure. When investments are repaid, the district is closed and the higher-valued property is fully returned to the tax rolls.
In the past 40 years, the city has used TIFs to transform Downtown, including the Monona Terrace Hilton hotel; the massive Block 89 redevelopment facing Capitol Square; Judge Doyle Square; pioneering condo projects; and public infrastructure.
The boundary change to TID 45, which runs through the West Wilson Street area, would extend the district toward John Nolen Drive and spend $1.2 million to bury power lines and $5.8 million on stormwater improvements in the areas of Broom and Hamilton streets.
Other city investments in the district include $13.3 million for the Anchor Bank mixed-use redevelopment at 25 W. Main St., and $2 million for improvements at the former AT&T building at 316 W. Washington Ave.
The council was meeting in person again after switching to online meetings at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A pod of American white pelicans gather on rocks in the Wisconsin River below the Alliant Energy dam in Prairie du Sac, Wis. Monday, June 6, 2022. The species, largely unseen in the state during much of the 20th century, are more common to the region now and are one of North America’s largest flying birds, featuring a wingspan up to nine feet and weighing up to 30 pounds. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
A duck lifts off the water as boaters paddle to Tenney Park Beach during Paddle and Portage in Madison, Wis., Saturday, June 18, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
(From left lower) Roomates Isabella Bortolotti and Rachel Bearder host friends for a pool party in their front yard, including Maddie Gehring, right, Lola Wojcik, top left, and Grover Bortolotti, all college students, on the Near West Side during a heat wave in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, June 14, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Syanne Morales and her son, Syncere Bowie, enjoy the cool relief offered by a water feature during a visit to the Cypress Splash Park in Madison Wis. Tuesday, June 14, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
(From left) Tabitha Goldberger, 10, Camila Fernandez Adamae, 11, and Vee Schwartz, 13, react as they perform a rocket propulsion experiment using Alka-Seltzer and water in a film canister during summer camp at Stellar Tech Girls in Middleton, Wis., Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
Ashley Peotter, front, carries a canoe with her teammate Marie Barry through Tenney Park during Paddle and Portage in Madison, Wis., Saturday, June 18, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
Kelly Parks Snider’s “Between Spaces” exhibit at the Arts + Literature Laboratoryin Madison, Wis. Friday, June 3, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Josh Hull, right, and Trevor Stahl, both of Roanoke, Virginia, who are participating in the Great Race, a vintage car rally that started in Warwick, Rhode Island on June 18 and will end in Fargo, North Dakota on June 26, prepare to hit the road after making a stop at Angell Park on their 2,300-mile journey in Sun Prairie, Wis., Thursday, June 23, 2022.
The group Wild Violets, including Raquel Aleman, right, Sam Rae, front, and Becky Burbach perform outside the Barrymore Theatre during Make Music Madison in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, June 21, 2022.
Mariah Quinn Duffy, center, and her sons, from left, Kieran, 9, Ronan, 2, and Nolan, 6, add compost to a raised bed vegetable garden outside their home in Madison, Wis., Monday, June 13, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Kit Rittman and her husband Greg, front, cheer as boaters paddle down the Yahara River during Paddle and Portage in Madison, Wis., Saturday, June 18, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
Gretchen Bushman, a recent UW-Madison grad and fan of music artist Harry Styles, relaxes outside her apartment on West Washington Avenue while escaping the heat of her non-air conditioned residence in Madison Wis. Tuesday, June 14, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Raghiatou Bah and her son, Mamadou, 8, explore their new living space – a condominium purchased with assistance from a grant through Own It: Building Black Wealth – in Madison, Wis. Friday, June 17, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
A Progress Pride Flag is raised above the east wing of the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. in observance of the month of June being designated as Pride Month Wednesday, June 1, 2022. An iteration of the widely recognized Rainbow Pride Flag, the Progress Pride Flag was created to symbolize inclusion of marginalized communities within the LGBTQ community and includes additional stripes forming a chevron pattern that represent LGBTQ individuals of color and the transgender community, as well as those who are living with and who have been lost to HIV/AIDS. Assisting with the effort are Wisconsin Department of Administration workers Darrin Smith, left, and Steve Walker. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Demonstrators protest at the state Capitol after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in Madison, Wis., Friday, June 24, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
People gather in support of Planned Parenthood and abortion rights at the Wisconsin State Capitol Rotunda in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, June 22, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
Madison Edgewood’s Caden Thomas competes in the Division 2 boys high jump during the final day of the WIAA state track and field meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse , Wis., Saturday, June 4, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
McFarland’s Julia Ackley reacts after clearing 10 feet, 6 inches on her first attempt in the Division 2 girls pole vault during the final day of the WIAA state track and field meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse , Wis., Saturday, June 4, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Members of Oregon High School’s girls soccer team, including clockwise from bottom, Addison Werth, Zoey Pagels, Katelyn Studebaker and Lily Eisele (5) celebrate Studebaker’s second half goal during the team’s 1-0 WIAA Division 2 state championship win over Whitefish Bay at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee, Wis. Saturday, June 18, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Oregon’s Elise Boyd (22) and Whitefish Bay’a Emma Addeo (16) compete for the ball during the second half of Oregon’s 1-0 WIAA Division 2 state championship win at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee, Wis. Saturday, June 18, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Wisconsin men’s soccer coach Neil Jones coaches athletes during a summer camp at University Bay Fields in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, June 22, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
Milton catcher Grace Schnell, left, watches as teammate Lydia Miller catches a fly ball after it bounced off of Schnell’s mitt during a Division 1 state softball quarterfinal game at Goodman Softball Complex in Madison, Wis., Thursday, June 9, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
Thongchai Jaidee celebrates his victory in the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge in Madison, Wis., Sunday, June 12, 2022. AP Photo/Kayla Wolf
Golfers, from left, Vijay Singh, Brandt Jobe and Bernhard Langer and their caddies read the green on the eighth hole during the American Family Insurance Championship at University Ridge in Madison, Wis., Friday, June 10, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
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