Residents of Great Falls are fortunate to live in a quiet semi-rural area with twisting country roads bordered by trees, hiking and horse trails, pastures, and open spaces. The community enjoys excellent parks, including Turner Farm Observatory Park, a first-rate facility. While these resources are highly valued for their contribution to the quality of life the community enjoys, it is inevitable that Great Falls will change over time in response to population growth across the region and the nation. It then becomes important to preserve the environment and advocate for measures that ensure that quality of life. One of these measures is creating and monitoring policies on how lighting in residential and commercial areas is managed.
On February 11, 2020, the County’s Board of Supervisors approved updated outdoor lighting regulations to reduce growing light pollution that affect our environment. Changes included (i) lowering the permissible intensity and color temperature of some lights, stipulating the turn-off time for lighting of sports fields or courts located in a residential district developed with single-family homes, and (iii) supporting a Planning Commission recommendation that additional zoning provisions be included in the county’s zoning ordinance work program to protect dark skies around astronomical sites from light spillover. A dark sky zoning ordinance amendment is currently being developed targeted at reducing increased light pollution around Observatory Park at Turner Farm. Until that zoning ordinance amendment is adopted, the community is faced with the prospect of increasing light pollution near Turner Farm. One example is the planned lighting at the new Hortense subdivision.
Residents of this subdivision, located on the north side of Georgetown Pike just east of the farm, are planning to install lights atop each of the 21 brick columns fronting the Pike, as well as along the property borders with Gouldman Lane and Christ the King Lutheran Church. Additional lighting is also proposed along the road inside the subdivision.
In July, more than $20,000 in damage was caused to a home in the 800 block of Hortense Place around 9:30 PM. [https://patch.com/virginia/reston/2-men-wanted-causing-20k-damage-great-falls-home]. It is unclear whether lighting levels at the home may have been a factor. Home security is often used as a justification for exterior lighting; however, most burglaries occur between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM when many homes are not occupied. A good security system, with strong doors and locks and privacy glass or other measures to limit interior visibility are more effective deterrents. Regarding the crime that occurred at Hortense, security cameras on the site captured images of the perpetrators.
Great Falls Citizen’s Association (GFCA) has been discussing the issue with the property owners in the subdivision over the last two months and has recently asked that no light fixtures, other than one to light the subdivision’s entry sign, be installed along the Pike. GFCA has also asked that the fixtures on the interior of the subdivision be full-cutoff and mounted horizontal to the ground.
GFCA has a history of supporting dark sky initiatives throughout the community, and its leaders have advocated for the establishment of “dark-sky preserves” that would reinforce Fairfax County Park Authority’s celestial activities at County parks in Great Falls. Planning objectives found in the County’s Comprehensive Plan seeking to protect the night sky in the area surrounding the observatory from excessive and improper lighting and ensure that lighting in new developments in the Springvale and Hickory sectors of the Upper Potomac Planning District, north of Leesburg Pike and west of Difficult Run, are energy efficient, reduce glare, eliminate light trespass and reduce sky glow.
On July 12, members of GFCA’s Environmental & Parks Committee met with County Officials to discuss protecting the dark sky around Observatory Park and obtaining an International Dark Sky Association (IDA) designation for the Park. GFCA’s Land Use & Zoning Committee (LUZ) has asked Deputy Zoning Administrator Carmen Bishop to attend the next LUZ meeting in October to get her update on progress with the planning and drafting of the proposed Dark Sky Preserve Zoning Ordinance Amendment. This action follows from a recommendation submitted by GFCA to the Planning Commission two years ago to strengthen controls on outdoor lighting near the Observatory. Carmen Bishop, Deputy Zoning Administrator, indicated at that time that while work has begun, it could be over a year before a work product could be put forward. The Code of Virginia provides for regulatory action to be taken by the County to govern lighting within a one-half mile radius of the Observatory Park.