Seeing the Milky Way in downtown Rehoboth Beach? It could become a reality in the future.
The Boardwalk and Beach Committee examined bringing darker skies to the Rehoboth Beach skyline Monday.
The city wouldn’t be completely dark, instead changes would point light where it's needed, the ground.
Rehoboth Beach commissioner Jay Lagree says the most difficult part about creating a dark sky community is convincing people it’s safe.
“One of the biggest worries, problems, hurdles is making people believe they can be as secure with less light. And safety is a big part of it," said =Lagree. "People believe that the brighter it is, the safer it is.”
But Lagree argues that’s actually not true. He cites a 1998 study in Chicago that installed brighter lights in alleyways to see if it would reduce crime.
The study found crime rates in those alleys increased 21 percent after brighter lights were installed.
Lagree says the committee should first focus on rolling out education on the benefits of reducing light pollution before introducing ordinances.
Committee member Brian Hancock says changing the lights along the boardwalk could be a hard sell for businesses.
“They wanna do absolutely anything they can do to attract people into their store," said Hancock. "And if that means having a nice, bright inviting looking store, then that’s gonna be their first priority I would think.”
Lagree says there’s ways to change lighting and create an inviting atmosphere without creating too much light pollution.
The committee also discussed creating a test block people could visit to see the benefits of implementing dark sky changes.
Roman Battaglia a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
