But Maui astronomer Mike Maberry, a longtime proponent of the outdoor lighting ordinance, said the draft bill is not tough enough and “will do nothing to preserve nighttime astronomy on Haleakala, nor will it provide any protection for the turtles.”
The major emphasis of the draft bill, which passed the Public Works Committee unanimously, requires that most outdoor lights be “fully shielded” so that light is projected downward.
The full shielding requirement covers lighting for outdoor sales areas, eating areas, recreation facilities, parking lots and roadways. Decorative outdoor lighting also would be restricted.
However, some kinds of lighting, including metal halide stadium lighting and neon lights, are either not covered or would require only partial shielding.
The draft will undergo review by the county’s attorneys before going to the full council for consideration at its Dec. 15 meeting.
Former Public Works Committee Chairman Mike Molina said, “I’m glad to see the wheels are starting to turn.”
Molina, who served as committee chairman several years ago and has overseen much of the long course of the proposal, said it involves “baby steps” but has gotten developers and the community thinking about light pollution and converting to less-intrusive light fixtures.
Committee Chairman Joe Pontanilla said, “I know it’s a small step, but it is going to improve the night sky.”
Maberry, who is the assistant director for the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy and is based atop Haleakala, said the action is “a step in the right direction (but) don’t get me wrong, it’s still frustrating.
“The intent was from the very beginning to move toward low-pressure sodium (LPS) for new installation, so we wouldn’t lose any more of the night sky than we’ve already lost,” he said via telephone while on business in New Mexico. “It was not to do any retrofitting or anything like that. It was for new installation. It would move toward LPS.”
The low-pressure sodium bulbs emit light across a narrow portion of the light spectrum. High-pressure sodium (HPS) lights, used for county streetlights and many commercial security lights, emit light across a broad portion of the light spectrum.
Monday’s version of the draft bill does not require that new public or private outdoor lights be LPS. Instead it requires LPS and HPS lights to be fully shielded. It would not prohibit erection of new HPS light standards.
The broad spectrum HPS lights are easier for humans, turtles and birds to see. For turtles and birds, that is a problem.
Baby turtles orient themselves to the ocean by natural light. Brighter artificial lights draw them inland when they leave their nests. Fledging uau, the endangered Hawaiian dark-rumped petrels, are blinded or confused by bright lights as they make their first flights away from nests atop Haleakala, often crash-landing on the ground instead of flying out to sea.
The LPS bulbs have a yellow hue that some people say affects color and depth perception. The more restricted light band has less effect on astronomy or wildlife.
LPS has been in use on the Big Island for more than 20 years.
Maberry said the full shielding on streetlights will reduce glare on roads for elderly drivers, but it will not help astronomers. He said the light bounces to the ground then back up to the sky.
Maberry added that the LPS lights haven’t been a problem on the Big Island. He said that in the years this issue has been before the council, no one has ever submitted a single study that proves HPS to be any better for safety and security than LPS.
“We need a lot more, if the County of Maui still wants the high-tech industry as one of the legs of the economy stool that holds up our economy. It’s the fastest-growing leg. It’s the only leg not impacted by the events of 9/11,” Maberry said.
Pontanilla said it’s not that the committee is not open to low-pressure sodium lighting.
He said police have opposed LPS and added they are the ones who keep the community safe.
Police Capt. Milton Matsuoka reiterated his department’s stance against the LPS lighting at the meeting.
He said that recently some Maui officers were on the Big Island for a convention. They rented a red vehicle and parked it in a shopping center parking lot.
When the officers tried to look for their car in the night, they couldn’t find it because the lighting affected the color.
“Our stance continues to be against LPS lights, not against shielded HPS,” Matsuoka said.
If the draft bill is passed as is, light fixtures installed prior to the effective date of the bill will need to be brought into compliance within 10 years.
Existing decorative lights are exempt from complying with the 10-year rule.
The bill also requires that the county fully shield 50 percent of its streetlights within five years, a condition Public Works Director Milton Arakawa said could be met.
Council Chairman Riki Hokama, who proposed the 50 percent requirement, said he didn’t want to have the department coming in close to the 10-year deadline asking for all of the funds to shield its nearly 4,000 streetlights at once.
Outside the meeting, Arakawa confirmed about 3,800 HPS lights will need shields, at an estimated cost of $200 per light including labor, for a total expenditure of $760,000.
Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.