At the February 10 meeting of Lake of Bays Council, two councillors – Nancy Tapley and Jacqueline Goddard- asked that the Township’s dark sky bylaw be updated.
Tapley noted that Huntsville recently revised its dark sky policy, which she described as “quite good,” and suggested that Lake of Bays do the same.
She said the municiplities share many lakes in common, like Lake of Bays, Peninsula Lake and Menominee Lake, and should be on the same page when it comes to protecting the night sky.
“Our policy is old and should be updated and we suggest things like turn off your festive lighting between 11 p.m. and sunrise and landscape lighting as well because our lakes are getting brighter and brighter with these unecessary lights,” said Tapley. She also suggested the policy be updated to include directio on wattage and the use of amber rather than blue or white lights. She said the use of timers should be included, limit the number of fixtures you can have on places like a boathouse, “and use motion sensors for pathways, things like that.”
Tapley also spoke of residential lighting for sports courts by the water’s edge. “When they don’t want to play, lights should be off,” she said, adding that residents could take maybe five years to replace all of the old fixtures with downward lighting “because a lot of the older places have fixtures that while they may aim down, they aim in such a way that they hit the lake and reflect. We have to educate the public on the importance of dark skies and prohibit reflective traspass lighting, both for the neighbours and for the lake. So that’s what we would like to see reviewed.”
Taeke Peereboom, Township Director of Building & By-law Services, told council the bylaw was already scheduled to be reviewed next year. He said staff are currently working on renewing the property standards bylaw, the clean yards bylaw, the vendor’s permit for refreshment vehicles, the pool fence bylaw as well as the littering bylaw. “But if council would prefer, we could put some of those on the back burners and focus on the dark skies bylaw.”
Tapley said she would like that and added that there aren’t many pools around. “We could put that on the back burner…”
In the end, council asked the director to review the Township’s lightig policy and bylaw and bring an updated bylaw for consideration to a future council meeting.
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Over the last 30 years, when I look from the top end of Haystack Bay, toward the South-South West the sky has become gradually lighter every year. I’m not entirely sure what I’m seeing, Baysville is in that direction and close enough but I did not think it had that much light shining about it. I think Bracebridge is too far away and Huntsville is close enough to note but for me at lease, hidden behind a large hill.
I do agree that a lot of cottages seem to have way too much lighting for their needs and seem to run it even when nobody is in residence.
While your looking at bylaws, take a look at your sign bylaw. It is ridiculous, needs serious updating and modification and coordination with District. For example, if it is a District road, Township needs, no should not have, any requirements at all.
If it is a Township road, then District needs no input.
What does need input is that the property owner should need to be consulted and have input along areas where their property abuts the road, no matter who operates the road.
Lastly, where does the Township get the right to designate a piece of road, (road they do not even own), as “scenic” and then apply a different set of rules? Who at Township has this authority, introduce them to us, we have never been told.
It’s February and people still have holiday lights . Some are very bright and left on all night. More publicity of the bylaw is needed.
Interesting how Huntsville’s Counsellors are oblivious that Huntsville’s town centre is lit up in a glorious display of bright lights without timers or motion sensors , busily polluting the sky they are trying to “protect”. Meanwhile taxpayers are to forced to comply with this ridiculous bylaw. Wow! Maybe focus on the homeless and that food insecurity is so high that Huntsville requires 4 food banks to feed its citizens . Lake of Bays…maybe focus on real world problems instead of yet another ideology
Go, Lake of Bays!
“brighter and brighter with these unnecessary lights … educate the public on the importance of dark skies and prohibit reflective trespass lighting, both for the neighbours and for the lake”.
It is true night lighting has increased – unnecessarily. How is the Huntsville by-law going? Since it relies on citizen reporting, have any notes come in, and if so with what reaction/action? I hesitate to call out my neighbours but there are many instances where business too-bright lights are on all night, every night.
The five principles for responsible outdoor lighting are here:
https://darksky.org/resources/guides-and-how-tos/lighting-principles/
It is valuable to us all and future generations to give our chosen lighting a moment’s thought. Once our society decides, or decides not to care, that it’s ok to lose the dark night time and not see the stars, that is a shame. Don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. Yet we do know.
We have a cottage on Haystack Bay and there is a very bright light on the northwest shoreline that is at least
1/2 km away from us and it lights half the bay at night. Very inconsiderate and disrespectful. This must be stopped! What can we do?
Gary Donald
Although the noise bylaw has nothing to do with this subject, noise is bothersome to property owners and wild animals. There is a noise bylaw but seems to be seldom enforced. Many cottagers seem to ignore it totally with late parties etc.
The noise bylaw needs to be revised and enforced.
Thank you.