Thank you, Bill, for your testimony to the CABQ City Council Land Use, Planning, and Zoning Committee today Thank you for the update on the LUPZ action.

For the information of our community, while Bill is not an elected member of your board he is a faithful member of the Nob Hill community.

He is an example of how we can all work for our neighborhood.

#VivaNobHill

Gary Eyster, President

From: Bill A [mailto:wm_ashford@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 7:28 PM
To: neighbors_nobhill-nm@mailman.swcp.com
Cc: lucille Torres <ltadvisor@yahoo.com>; Kay Dawson <kayd@fastmail.net>; Donna O'Brien <myabqagent@comcast.net>; Eliza Peralta <nurseep505@gmail.com>; Gary & Melodie Eyster <meyster1@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: LUPZ Meeting this Wednesday, August 12 at 5:00 p.m.

Update: the LUPZ approved Amendment A17 Site Lighting with no one opposing so it will move forward to city council for their final vote,

-Bill

On Aug 12, 2020, at 4:33 PM, Bill A <wm_ashford@yahoo.com> wrote:

Based on my ongoing involvement in the site lighting amendment I have signed up to make a statement in tonights LUPZ Zoom meeting.  Here is my planned statement:

•             My name is Bill Ashford I’m an Albuquerque resident and speaking on behalf of the Nobhill Neighborhood Association

•             I have comments related to "Council Amendment Packet B, Amendment A17, Site lighting".

•             Firstly I would like to thank Councilor Pat Davis and his staff for writing amendment A17 and sponsoring it through the IDO update process.

•             We are supportive of the amendment and think it should be incorporated into the IDO. 

•             Bright lights at night can be a nuisance eyesore and detract from a resident’s quality of life by creating unwanted glare and disruptive light pollution.

•             Bright lights affect adjacent neighbors and, in the case of multistory commercial buildings, bright lights on the upper stories affect non-adjacent neighbors.

•             Historically the allowable exterior illumination is limited by zoning ordinances and the IDO is no exception. 

•             In Nobhill a deficiency in the IDO lighting ordinance was discovered, an excessively bright multistory commercial building with bright lights active in all 96 upper story windows was found to exceed the ordinance but because the illumination originated from internal and not external fixtures, the ordinance was not enforceable.

•             Amendment A17 would correct this deficiency by revising the IDO to also apply to illumination originating inside a building.

•             The allowable brightness for external lights is not reduced by this amendment so existing or new lights in parking lots, alleyways and sidewalks are not changed, in fact the maximum allowable brightness has been slightly increased with this amendment.

•             Thank you for your consideration on this item and hopefully Amendment A17 will be approved and included in the updated IDO.