City Council Minutes 2021 09 21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes September 21, 2021 Page 8 of 11 Mayor Stolzmann noted there was a great deal of discussion on this topic in earlier meetings which led us to this point. Public Comments — None. MOTION: Councilmember Dickinson moved to approve Ordinance No. 1814; Councilmember Fahey seconded the motion. Councilmember Dickinson stated this is a good solution to align the two regulations and decrease the complexity for the retailers. VOTE: Motion passed by unanimous roll call vote. DISCUSSION/DIRECTION — DARK SKIES AMORTIZATION POLICY Interim Planning Director Ritchie stated this is a part of the Council's 2021 Work Plan; Council gave direction to staff on a code amendment in July. Staff is requesting additional discussion and direction regarding the amortization policy. Staff suggests the schedule set for properties to come into compliance with any new rules should be connected to the level of investment a property owner is putting into a property. Alternatives could include non -conforming requirements, requirements only on new development or redevelopment, or maintaining properties out of compliance. Staff looked at how this would be implemented and what the costs would be. She reviewed costs for an average single-family home to bring all outdoor lighting fixtures into compliance. The Council could budget for incentives to help people with that cost particularly if an aggressive time frame is what Council would like. She noted estimating for commercial properties is more difficult as there are additional factors at play. Ritchie stated staff has looked into how other cities have handled this. Boulder used a 15- year amortization. They have no estimate of how many properties have come into compliance and have only enforced the rules through new development and redevelopment. They have not proactively reached out to property owners to require compliance. She reviewed some of the limitations there may be for a new ordinance including: for single-family homes there is currently no process in place to review light fixtures for compliance; a new ordinance could significantly increase the permit volume; and there is no process in place to qualify low-income households. For commercial properties it will be difficult to determine compliance on existing fixtures. And, there is not currently a level of staffing in place to provide proactive enforcement given the number of properties and compliance verification requirements.