§ 13a-143d — Floodlights intended for private property illumination located within the state right-of-way on state highways.

(a) For the purposes of this section: (1) “Fixture” means the assembly that holds a lamp and may include an assembly housing, a mounting bracket or pole socket, a lamp holder, a ballast, a reflector or mirror and a refractor or lens; (2) “Luminaire” means the complete lighting system, including the lamp and the fixture; (3) “Lumen” means a unit of measurement of luminous flux; (4) “Floodlight” means any luminaire fitted with a lamp having an output greater than one thousand eight hundred lumens intended for private area lighting and mounted on a utility pole within the state right-of-way; (5) “Light pollution” means direct light emitted above the horizontal plane running through the lowest point on the luminaire; (6) “Light trespass” means light emitted by a luminaire that shines beyond the boundaries of the property intended for illumination; (7) “State highway” has the same meaning as in subsection (a) of section 13a-1 ; (8) “Direct light” means light that can be seen directly from the light source and other light-emitting or reflecting elements of the luminaire; (9) “Glare” means the sensation produced by the illuminance of a luminaire within the visual field that is sufficiently greater than the illuminance to which the eyes are adapted causing annoyance, discomfort or loss in visual performance and visibility; and (10) “Illuminance” is the density of the luminous flux incident on a surface represented by the quotient of the luminous flux by the area of the surface when the surface is uniformly illuminated. (b) No floodlight intended for private property illumination shall be located within the state right-of-way on any state highway unless (1) the luminaire is designed to maximize energy efficiency and to minimize light pollution, glare and light trespass, (2) the maintained illuminance levels produced by the luminaire are equal to the minimum maintained levels recommended by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America for the lighting application, (3) the luminaire is sufficiently shielded and aimed so that no direct light from the luminaire is visible at any point in the highway where the viewing height is four feet or greater and the distance from the mounting pole is seventy feet or greater, and (4) the luminaire is sufficiently shielded and aimed to prevent light trespass onto properties other than the property intended for illumination and so that no direct light is visible at a viewing height of five feet or greater at any point along the adjacent property line. (c) No floodlight intended for private property illumination shall be located within the state right-of-way if the structure or object intended for illumination is across a public highway from the utility pole on which the floodlight would be mounted. (d) All luminaires in violation of any provision of subsection (b) or (c) of this section operating prior to October 1, 2004, shall be brought into compliance with the requirements in subsection (b) of this section in accordance with the following schedule: Approximately twenty per cent by October 1, 2006, approximately forty per cent by October 1, 2007, approximately sixty per cent by October 1, 2008, approximately eighty per cent by October 1, 2009, and one hundred per cent by October 1, 2010.

Legislative History

(P.A. 03-210, S. 1; P.A. 06-86, S. 2.) History: P.A. 06-86 amended Subsec. (d) to change date of operation from October 1, 2003, to October 1, 2004, and to change compliance deadline from October 1, 2005, to compliance in accordance with specified schedule, effective July 1, 2006.