The newly revived Positively Glade group is taking on the highly contentious issue of outdoor lighting in the community as its first project.
It intends to create a task force of residents who could survey the use of lighting, especially for streets, and make recommendations to help the board of directors develop a comprehensive plan to increase safety at night while protecting the sky from what is called “light pollution.”
Bill Booth, a former president of Positively Glade and helping to reorganize it after it disbanded in 2021, made that announcement at a Feb. 21 community meeting he led to promote the effective and responsible use of outdoor lighting.
“Today’s presentation is intended to focus on balance … the need for adequate lighting and safety on our streets and in our neighborhoods without compromising our ability to see the wonders of the night sky,” he told 60 residents at the start of the meeting at Christ Lutheran Church. “It’s not an either/or thing.”
Booth said Positively Glade will try to help the community find that balance.
That could consist of organizing a task force to help develop what Booth said the community needs: a concrete plan for managing exterior lighting throughout Fairfield Glade.
Booth said he had yet to approach the Fairfield Glade Community Club board of directors about the initiative. But board member Bruce Horn, who attended the meeting, welcomed it.
After the meeting, Horn told the Glade Sun that although he could not speak for the board, he said as a community member, “This is a very good idea.”
He said a task force’s work would better enable the community to reach a consensus and provide important information to the board for guidance.
There has been a sharp division among some residents for many years on the issue of exterior lighting.
Some want more of it to see narrow, hilly and winding roads better while driving at night and to help protect their homes from crime.
Others say they were attracted to Fairfield Glade partly because of its serenity and that more lighting would lessen their ability to see stars and myriad constellations vividly on clear nights.
There are ways to have outdoor lighting that satisfies both sides.
That was the message of main speaker Theo Wellington, an astronomer, treasurer of Nashville-based Barnard-Seyfert Astronomical Society and advocate of the International Dark-Sky Association, which promotes appropriate use of lighting to minimize light pollution.
Wellington said some communities point lights directly downward and have shields around them to direct light only to their target. She also said some sports venues do the same to prevent much of their abundant light from escaping uselessly into the sky.
“More lighting doesn’t necessarily help,” she said. “Correct lighting, though, can do a much better job.”
Wellington said artificial lighting disrupts activities of nocturnal wildlife, such as their need to hunt for food and mate, and migratory birds can wander off course.
However, humans are unique.
“No other creature on the planet needs artificial light at night,” she said.
Wellington acknowledged that people needed outdoor lighting in some situations but said it must be used responsibly.
“So light your sidewalks, your streets, make sure you’re safe and have enough light to see,” she said. “But we don’t need to light up the bottoms of airplanes.”
Several residents commented or asked questions about the Glade lighting issue, nearly all expressing support for lighting that does not add to light pollution.
No one spoke for no restrictions.
One resident said she would like more street lights at curves on roads but would want the light shining downward. Wellington said reflectors also could be a solution.
Another said there should be a rule prohibiting home floodlights from shining into the eyes of walkers.
Community Club policy specifies that exterior lighting must not “trespass” on the property of others and that motion-sensor lighting must be “confined within the property boundaries of the source.”
It also says lighting “should not be directed upward into the night-time sky” except where required by law.
The full policy is available on FGCC’s website: fairfieldgladeresort.com. Click on My Property, then Property Policies and select Exterior Residential Lighting Policy.
Rick Ryan, park ranger at U.S. Park Service’s Obed Wild & Scenic River, which encompasses 5,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau, spoke briefly.
He invited the audience to attend the park’s night sky programs. He said the park has no exterior lights.