Calling all interested citizens, planners, zoning administrators and elected officials: the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments wants you.
Convening a Sign and Lighting Workshop Friday, the ten-county umbrella agency will provide information on options to address community character and safety issues around signs and lighting. The organization Scenic Michigan based in Petoskey will facilitate the program, which will be held at the Michigan Works! Conference Room from 1 to 4 p.m.
"People live here because they love the dark sky and can see the Milky Way at night,” said Megan Olds, regional planning director for the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments. "That's certainly something that local communities want to protect and one of the ways that citizens can help is to use the proper lighting.”
Proper lighting is a winning proposition for individuals, businesses and communities, said Jerry Dobek, a member of Grand Traverse County Planning Commission and also regional representative for the International Dark Sky Organization. The issue is more than preserving dark skies, but getting people to light properly, whether at a home or a business.
He terms wayward light as a trespass and noted that there are lights designed to reflect down as well as shields to retrofit existing lighting.
"When we shine the light down where it's intended to go in the first place, the light emanates blow the horizontal plane,” said Dobek, who is also an astronomy professor at Northwestern Michigan College and curator of the college's Rogers Observatory. "We find it reduces lighting levels and reduces glare, which makes it safer, and saves energy because we're not lighting up trees and airplanes.”
"Lighting goes with signs because often we try to illuminate signs and billboards and fitting the two together is important for the viewshed concept,” he added.
Billboards, first amendment issues, writing, defending and enforcing sign and lighting ordinances will also be discussed. Other topics include public safety and appearance issues, ways to save energy and money with lighting and signs and why communities should care about signs and lighting. Sample sign and lighting ordinances will be distributed as well as pictures of good lighting fixtures.
Using resources wisely and saving money are hallmarks of good lighting and signage.
"Lighting can be cost effective because if you're lighting a task area then you're not wasting light,” said Olds. "Or if you have a motion sensor, you can actually light what you need to light when you need to light it so you're not wasting electricity.”
With the region's cachet of natural beauty and rolling vistas, signs and lighting can make or break a community. The information workshop and packet of materials will help anyone concerned with these issues, whether officially or as a citizen, take a proactive approach.
"In our area there seems to be an awareness of this issue, a heightened awareness, because there's still something to protect,” said Olds. "This is for anyone within the ten-county area and we have folks coming from Empire, Missaukee County and all over the place to learn about these topics.”
The Sign and Lighting Workshop will be held on Friday, November 3, from 1-4 p.m. at the Traverse City Michigan Works! Conference Room, located at 1209 South Garfield Road. The workshop is open to the public and space is still available; the fee is $25. For more information on the workshop or to register, contact Denise at 929-5000. For more information on Scenic Michigan, see their web site at www.scenicmichigan.org.