Albemarle Supervisors mark Dark Sky Week

The start of local government meetings offers a chance for elected officials to celebrate and recognize all sorts of items related to our society. On April 2, 2025, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors used their first proclamation to lament an aspect of civilization.

“The aesthetic beauty and wonder of a natural night sky is a shared heritage of all humankind, the experience of standing beneath a starry night sky inspires feelings of wonder and awe,” said Supervisor Ann Mallek. “Many people in Albemarle county live under a dome of light pollution, excessive artificial lighting at night that disrupts natural darkness and may never experience the visual wonder or ecological and health benefits of living under a dark sky.”

The Historic, Cultural, and Scenic Resources chapter of the 2015 Albemarle County Comprehensive Plan has an objective to “protect the dark sky.” This mentions the University of Virginia’s Fan Mountain Observatory. Mallek said that southern Albemarle is close to James River State Park, one of four parks in Virginia designated as an International Dark Sky Park.

To confirm their commitment to fighting light pollution, Supervisors recognized Dark Sky Week which is coming up April 21 through April 28. (read the proclamation)

“Peak spring bird migration falls during Dark Sky Week and 80 percent of migrating birds fly at night and need starlight to navigate,” Mallek said.

The proclamation was accepted by Christine Putnam, the chair of the county’s Natural Heritage Committee and a member of the Dark Skies Piedmont Group.

“All things on this planet evolved with a predictable cycle of day and night,” Putnam said. “The rhythm of light and darkness is essential to our health and well being. With the advancement of inexpensive and efficient LED outdoor lighting, the darkness of the night is disappearing at an alarming rate.”

Putnam said one solution is better planning that takes light pollution into consideration. She asked the county to hire a consultant to recommend an outdoor lighting ordinance and specifically pointed to the Town of Vienna in Fairfax County for their work. That locality recently hired the firm Clanton & Associates to review their rules.

Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley said light pollution threatens the population of one species that can help reduce the population of another.

“The bat population, very, very important for the bat population and they eat up all those pesky mosquitoes,” said LaPisto-Kirtley. “So this is why it’s so important to have dark skies, because the lighting does interfere with bats at night.”

The topic also came up briefly later in the meeting during a discussion of the Comprehensive Plan update. At least one Supervisor expressed a concern that requiring review of development plans for Dark Sky provisions will add to the cost of housing.

Top photo: Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Preserve in Ontario. This image is in the public domain and was accessed via WikiCommons.

Before you go: This particular segment is the fifth segment from the April 3, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. That particular edition is intended to include as much as possible from the April 2, 2025 meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. It’s also being recorded for the April 5, 2025 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement radio show as well as the next podcast. There is a fourth segment that doesn’t really offer any sound and I think I need to add more to it before I post a story here. The interesting thing about writing stories about a community is that there’s always more to tell. Thank you for reading!