The purpose of this article is to regulate the placement, orientation
distribution patterns, and fixture types of exterior lighting. Furthermore,
it is the intent of this article to:
A.Â
Provide lighting in outdoor public spaces where public health, safety,
and welfare are potential concerns.
B.Â
Protect drivers and pedestrians from the glare of nonvehicular light
sources that shine into their eyes and thereby impair safe traverse.
C.Â
Protect neighbors and the night sky from nuisance glare and stray
light from poorly aimed, placed, applied, maintained or shielded light
sources.
D.Â
Protect and retain the character of Schwenksville Borough.
A.Â
Exterior lighting shall be required for safety and personal security
for uses that operate during hours of darkness where there is a public
assembly and traverse, including but not limited to the following
uses: multifamily residential, commercial, industrial, public-recreational,
and institutional.
B.Â
The Schwenksville Borough Council may require lighting be incorporated
for other uses or locations, as they deem necessary.
C.Â
The glare-control requirements herein contained apply to lighting
in all above-mentioned uses as well as, but not limited to, sign,
architectural, landscape, and residential lighting.
The following terms, when used in this article, shall be defined
as follows:
Light emitted directly from the lamp, off of the reflector
or reflector diffuser, or through the reflector or diffuser lens,
of a luminaire.
The assembly that houses the lamp or lamps and can include
all or some of the following parts: a housing, a mounting bracket
or pole socket, a lamp holder, a ballast, a reflector or mirror, and/or
a refractor or lens.
Any light fixture or lamp that incorporates a reflector or
a refractor to concentrate the light output into a directed beam in
a particular direction.
A unit of light intensity stated in lumens per square foot
and measurable with an illuminance meter, a.k.a. footcandle or light
meter.
Outdoor light fixture shielded or constructed so that no
light rays are emitted by the installed fixture at angles above the
horizontal plane as certified by a photometric test report.
The sensation produced by lighting that causes an annoyance,
discomfort, or loss in visual performance and visibility to the eye.
The height of a luminaire shall be the vertical distance
from the ground directly below the center line of the luminaire to
the lowest direct-light-emitting part of the luminaire.
Direct light that has been reflected or has scattered off
of other surfaces.
The shining of light produced by a luminaire beyond the boundaries
of the property on which it is located.
A unit of luminous flux. One footcandle is one lumen per
square foot. For the purposes of this chapter, the lumen-output values
shall be the initial lumen output ratings of a lamp.
This a complete lighting system, and includes a lamp or lamps
and a fixture.
The nighttime illumination of an outside area or object by
any man-made device located outdoors that produces light by any means.
The specific illumination of an outside area of object by
any man-made device located outdoors that produces light by any means
for a period of less than seven days, with at least 180 days passing
before being used again.
A.Â
Illumination levels.
1.Â
Lighting, where required by this chapter, shall have intensities
and uniformity ratios in accordance with the current recommended practices
of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North American (IESNA)
as contained in the IESNA Lighting Handbook.
2.Â
Future amendments to said recommended practices shall become a part
of this chapter without further action of the Borough.
3.Â
Examples of intensities for typical outdoor applications, as extracted
from the 8th Edition of the Lighting Handbook, are presented below.
|
Use/Task
|
Maintained Footcandles
|
Uniformity-Avg.: Min.
|
|---|---|---|
|
Streets, local residential
|
0.4 Avg.
|
6:1
|
|
Streets, local commercial
|
0.9 Avg.
|
6:1
|
|
Parking, residential, multifamily
| ||
|
Low vehicular/pedestrian activity
|
0.2 Min.
|
4:1
|
|
Medium vehicular/pedestrian activity
|
0.6 Min.
|
4:1
|
|
Parking, industrial/commercial/institutional/municipal
| ||
|
High activity, e.g., regional shopping centers/fast-food/facilities,
major athletic/civic/cultural events
|
0.9 Min.
|
4:1
|
|
Medium activity, e.g., community shopping centers, office parks,
hospitals, commuter lots, cultural/civic/recreational events
|
0.6 Min.
|
4:1
|
|
Low activity, e.g., neighborhood shopping, industrial employee
parking, schools, church parking
|
0.2 Min.
|
4:1
|
|
Walkways and bikeways
|
0.5 Avg.
|
5:1
|
|
Building entrances
|
5.0 Avg.
|
—
|
B.Â
Lighting fixture design.
1.Â
Fixtures shall be of a type and design appropriate to the lighting
application, and aesthetically acceptable to the Borough Council based
on the recommendation of the Planning Commission and the Borough Engineer.
2.Â
For lighting horizontal tasks such as roadways, pathways, and parking
areas, fixtures shall meet IESNA cutoff criteria (not more than 2.5%
of their light output emitted above 90° at any lateral angle around
the fixture).
3.Â
The use of floodlighting, spotlighting, wall-mounted fixtures, decorative
globes and other fixtures not meeting IESNA cutoff criteria shall
be permitted only with the approval of the Borough Council, based
upon acceptable glare control.
4.Â
Fixtures shall be equipped with or be capable of being back fitted
with light directing devices such as shields, visors or hoods when
necessary to redirect offending light distribution.
C.Â
Control of nuisance and disabling glare.
1.Â
All outdoor lighting, whether or not required by this chapter; on
private, residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, recreational,
or institutional property; shall be aimed, located, designed, fitted,
and maintained so as not to present a hazard to drivers or pedestrians
by impairing their ability to safely traverse, i.e., disabling glare,
and so as not to present a hazard to drivers or pedestrians, or a
nuisance glare concern to neighboring properties.
2.Â
Directional fixtures such as floodlights and spotlights shall be
so installed or aimed that they do not project their output into the
windows or neighboring residences, adjacent uses, directly skyward
or onto a roadway.
3.Â
Unless otherwise permitted by the Borough Council, e.g., for safety
or security, lighting shall be controlled by automatic switching devices
such as time clocks or combination motion detectors and photocells,
to permit extinguishing offending sources between 11:00 p.m. and dawn
to mitigate nuisance glare and skylighting consequences.
4.Â
Where all-night safety or security lighting is to be provided, the
lighting intensity levels shall not exceed 25% of the levels normally
permitted by this chapter for the use.
5.Â
Screens shall not be employed to serve as the primary means for controlling
glare. Rather, glare control shall be achieved primarily through the
use of such means as cutoff fixtures, shields and baffles, and appropriate
application of fixture mounting height, wattage, aiming angle and
fixture placement.
6.Â
The intensity of illumination projected onto a residential use from
another property shall not exceed 0.1 vertical footcandle, measured
at 30 inches above the ground at the property line.
7.Â
Externally illuminated billboards shall be lighted by fixtures mounted
at the top of the sign and aimed downward. Such fixtures shall be
automatically extinguished between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and dawn.
D.Â
Installation.
1.Â
Electrical feeds for lighting standards shall be run underground,
not overhead.
2.Â
Lighting standards in parking areas shall be placed a minimum of
five feet outside paved area, or on concrete foundations at least
30 inches high above the pavement, or suitably protected by other
approved means.
E.Â
Maintenance. Lighting fixtures and ancillary equipment shall be maintained
so as to comply with this chapter.
Streetlighting fixtures in residential developments shall be
placed at the following locations:
A.Â
At the intersection of public roads with entrance roads to the proposed
development.
B.Â
Intersections involving proposed public or nonpublic primary distributor
streets within the proposed development.
C.Â
At the apex of the curve of any primary distributor street, public
or nonpublic, within the proposed development, having less than three-hundred-foot
minimum center-line radius.
D.Â
Cul-de-sac bulb radii.
E.Â
Terminal ends of center median islands having concrete-structure
curbing, trees and/or other fixed objects not having breakaway design
for speeds of 25 m.p.h. or greater.
A.Â
Lighting plans shall be submitted to the municipality for review
and approval and shall include:
1.Â
Layout of the proposed fixture locations.
2.Â
Isofootcandle plots for individual fixture installations and ten-foot
by ten-foot illuminance-grid plots for multifixture installations,
that demonstrate compliance with the intensities and uniformities
set forth in this chapter.
3.Â
Description of equipment, including fixture catalog cuts, photometrics,
glare reduction devices, lamps, control devices, mounting heights
and mounting methods proposed.
B.Â
When requested by the Borough Council, the applicant shall submit
a visual impact plan that demonstrates appropriate steps have been
taken to mitigate on-site and off-site glare.
C.Â
Post-approval alterations to lighting plans or intended substitutions
for approved lighting equipment shall be submitted to the Borough
for review and approval.
The Borough reserves the right to conduct a post-installation
nighttime inspection to verify compliance with the requirements of
this chapter, and if appropriate, to require remedial action at no
expense to the Borough.
A.Â
Safety hazards.
1.Â
If the Borough judges a lighting installation creates a safety or
personal-security hazard, the person(s) responsible for the lighting
shall be notified and required to take remedial action.
2.Â
If the appropriate corrective action has not been effected within
30 days of notification, the Borough may levy a fine for as long as
the hazard continues to exist.
B.Â
Nuisance glare and inadequate illumination levels.
1.Â
When the Borough judges an installation produces unacceptable levels
of nuisance glare, skyward light, excessive or insufficient illumination
levels or otherwise varies from this chapter, the Borough may cause
notification of the person(s) responsible for the lighting and require
appropriate remedial action.
2.Â
If the infraction so warrants, the Borough may act to have the problem
corrected as in Subsection A(2) above.
C.Â
Nonconforming lighting.
1.Â
Any lighting fixture or lighting installation existing on the effective
date of this chapter that does not conform with the requirements of
this chapter, shall be considered as a lawful nonconformance subject
to the following:
When streetlighting is to be dedicated to the Borough, the applicant
shall be responsible for all costs involved in the lighting of streets
and street intersections from the date of the first dwelling is occupied
until the street is accepted for dedication.
A.Â
Upon dedication of public roads, the Borough shall assess the homeowners'
association, individual property owners, or corporation, as may be
necessary, to collect all revenues required which are directly or
indirectly associated with all costs of each specific streetlighting
fixture. These costs shall include:
B.Â
Prior to dedication, and in the event of the formation of a homeowners'
association and/or a property management declaration, the Borough
shall require said agency to enter into an agreement guaranteeing
the Borough payment of all costs associated with streetlighting.
