Turn down the lights: Destin implements turtle-safe lighting

The Emerald Coast beach line is the seasonal home not only to snowbirds and tourists, but also to several species of sea turtles, who take to the land each year from April through November. The animals come to shore long enough to nest on the sandy beaches and lay their eggs before returning to the sea.

In recent years however, development along the water line has led to trouble for the turtles. Often, when new hatchlings attempt to trek back to the Gulf, they are misguided by bright lights coming from the shore, as they mistake the lights for their honing beacon, the moon. In order to address this problem, the city of Destin has been working since 2013 to implement turtle-safe lighting along waterfront properties, and has now reached the final stages of accomplishing full compliance.

In our land development code there is a whole outdoor lighting section detailing the marine turtle conservation areas, said City Community Development Director Ken Gallander. We have a whole set of standards to improve the nesting habitat so that it is not polluted by lighting.

The code states that turtle-safe lighting requirements include; ensuring that light is not directly visible from the beach; that only low wattage bulbs of 50 watts or lower are used; that parking lot lights are shielded by directing light downward; and that reflective materials are removed from beach line-of-sight.

In late 2013, the city received a grant and began the West Destin Beach Nourishment Project. The grant, which included state and federal dollars, required the city to follow state regulations for all properties within marine turtle conservation zone.

Our code enforcement officers worked with a beach nourishment consultant and began with Holiday Isle on the west end of our beaches, said Gallander. The numbers that came out were 171 lighting violations, but all of those were brought under compliance by the property owners.

Once the west end of Destin was completed, city officials focused on the area from Pelican Beach east to the county line.

There were 121 violations when we started in the late summer of 2014. We have been whittling them down and now we have less than a dozen, said Gallander.

Although there is no set timeframe for the lighting changes to be met, Gallander said that every property owner so far has complied and he hopes to see the project finished soon.

Some properties have the whole South side of their property facing the Gulf so we work with property owners as much as we can, said Gallander. We are close to getting full compliance and hope to complete those before the turtle nesting season starts.

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Turn down the lights: Destin implements turtle-safe lighting