How bright should street lights be? Some newer kinds might be too bright, in the eyes of some Fayetteville officials.
The idea is to take a proactive stance to curtail the use of the increasing presence of “super-bright” LED lighting on businesses that contribute to visual clutter.
That stance came in the form of a proposed amendment to Fayetteville’s lighting ordinance that was posted for a first reading at the March 21 meeting of the Fayetteville City Council.
Making the case for the amendment, Fayetteville Community Development Director Brian Wismer said that due to advances in technology, LED lighting has become a more viable option for businesses to use in a variety of indoor and outdoor uses.
Most people recognize the benefits of LED lighting, specifically relating to energy savings and lamp efficiency, and want to promote the use of such lighting technology where feasible, Wismer said.
“An exception to this however, is the growing trend of using LED lights, typically in the form of channel strips or ropes, to draw attention to commercial buildings by mounting them around windows and rooflines. Sometimes referred to as ‘ultra-bright’ or ‘super-bright’ LEDs, these lights are in sharp contrast to the aesthetically pleasing architectural and landscape lighting that many Fayetteville businesses currently utilize,” said Wismer.
Wismer noted examples of LED lighting in other locations outside city limits that contribute to the visual clutter that Fayetteville has historically attempted to avoid.
The amendment to the architectural guidelines and lighting standards ordinance states that LED accent lighting in the forms of channel strip, ropes or similar configurations around windows, building facades and rooflines be prohibited.
The ordinance currently prohibits the use of neon, laser lighting and search lights or lights that pulse, flash or rotate.
