North Smithfield looks to reclaim its starry sky

Effort to cut light pollution, save cash, gains momentum

By ETHAN SHOREY, Valley Breeze Staff Writer

NORTH SMITHFIELD - There was a time when "how I wonder what you are" was but a rhetorical statement. A child drifting off to sleep as his mother sang of twinkling little stars could see past sleepy eyelids to exactly what she spoke of.

When that little tyke had grown too old for nursery rhymes, the night sky may have found him strolling down to the back field, trusty telescope in hand to explore the bright expanse above.

With an eye toward recapturing some of the magic of urbanized America's once-bright skies - not just pieces of Orion's belt or a portion of the Big Dipper's handle - town officials are moving forward with a plan to cut the use of streetlights at all but North Smithfield's village intersections.

In the process they're hoping to save thousands of dollars in precious tax dollars.

"What you're trying to do with something like this is get back your rural skies," said Town Planner Robert Ericson, who is working with Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton to craft a plan to begin significantly reducing North Smithfield's light emissions sometime this year.

Prior to the widespread use of electric lighting and the increase in "urban sprawl" in the latter portion of the 20th century, said Ericson, the night sky provided a "stunning view" with several thousand stars visible on a clear, cloudless night.

"Our town spends $160,000 per year on street lighting," said Hamilton and Ericson in a joint statement to The Valley Breeze. "By limiting use to village commercial intersections, we can minimize light pollution and energy consumption, restoring rural character and leading the way as a green community."

It appears North Smithfield will get help in its rural sky initiative from the neighboring city of Woonsocket, where a similar movement is afoot. At the urging of City Council President Leo Fontaine, the council there approved a budget Monday that will mean a 25 percent reduction in spending on an annual $448,000 electricity bill through the shutoff of certain lights from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. each morning.

Cumberland's Mayor Daniel McKee has also mentioned shutting down lights as a possible savings alternative.

In past years, the motivation for rural skies projects across the country came most often from astronomers who didn't like the limited visibility brought by the "bounceback effect" of light pollution, according to Ericson. In more recent years, with a greater emphasis on cutting energy consumption both to preserve the environment and tax dollars in a scaled-back economy, he said, minimizing light pollution has taken on added levels of importance.

"This is just another step to becoming a green community," said Hamilton, who is currently involved in discussions on several other "green," money-saving initiatives, including tighter recycling restrictions and collaborating with the School Department on a comprehensive energy audit of all town and school buildings.

The rural community of Tiverton, said Hamilton, is at the same stage as North Smithfield in turning out a percentage of the town's lights.

Tiverton Town Administrator James Goncalo told The Breeze Monday that his similar plan to that in North Smithfield is to turn off 5 percent of the estimated 1,400 street lights this year, for an estimated savings of $8,000. Like North Smithfield, Tiverton would continue turning lights off over a number of years, said Goncalo, not so much to reclaim the night sky but simply to save money.

"We have maintained lighting on intersections, curves, and areas where there have been accidents," said Goncalo, who said he has let police determine which lights should be left on based on accident data. A list of lights to be turned off has been submitted to National Grid, he said.

Neither Goncalo nor Hamilton say they believe their respective towns would be held liable if someone got into an accident at a spot where a light once stood, since lighting on town roads is already sparse in certain areas.

As part of their goal to turn out the lights, North Smithfield leaders will be initiating an informational campaign in the coming days to let residents know how they might help through initiatives like installing inexpensive motion sensor lights or directing light sources - preferably those of the fluorescent variety - downward.

Hamilton said she doesn't expect any fees handed down from National Grid to turn off street lights, but did say getting the lights turned off "will be a slow process," as by contract only 5 percent of the town's streetlights may be turned off each year. Over the course of the coming year, town officials plan to determine how much a 5 percent reduction in lighting saves the town. Based on those numbers and feedback from the public, they say, leaders will then decide whether it's worth continuing.

"One year will give us enough time to evaluate, see how people like the concept of returning the rural quality and we will have definitive savings numbers," said Hamilton, who said the first lights could go out in the next few weeks.

According to Ericson, money saved through energy conservation could possibly go toward accelerating the town's transition to high reflection street signs required to be put in place by 2012. A potential safety concern would be addressed quickly, said Ericson, even as the town saves money.

Ericson said even the potential developer of the town's largest development, Dowling Village, is required to conform to extensive light pollution regulations. Bucci Development will not be allowed to install any lights over 20 feet in height and all lights at a development currently in the preliminary approval process will have to face down.

Planning Board member Scott Gibbs has said on a number of occasions that he would like Bucci Development to incorporate an even more advanced rural sky features into the development's lighting scheme to cut down on light pollution.

North Smithfield residents who believe they have extenuating circumstances that may require continued lighting, or who know of a special need involving someone else, should e-mail Hamilton at phamilton@nsmithfieldri.org or call her at 767-2200, ext. 301.

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