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6.1/; ,4,4.r2- aft;. fv?i¢/t .SOX S 5 /fir-d'G WASHBURN OBSERVATORY DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN -MADISON 475 North Charter Street Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Telephone: (608)262-3071 June 13, 1986 Dane County Zoning Commission Room 116, City-County Building Madison, WI 53709 Gentlemen: This is to comment on the petition #3691 before the Commission, requesting that a parcel of land in the Town of Cross Plains be rezoned from A-1 to residential. I am writing on behalf of the Department of Astronomy of the University; our Pine Bluff Observatory is located about 2200 feet from the edge of the parcel in question. The Department of Astronomy strongly opposes the proposed rezoning. Our observatory is equipped with instruments which are extremely sensitive to light. A dark sky is essential to the important astronomical research we conduct at the Pine Bluff Observatory whenever the sky is clear. We realize that it is probably inevitable that the sky near Pine Bluff becomes brighter as there is ever more construction in the general vicinity. However, lights close to the property, such as is proposed, have a much greater influence on the sky brightness at the Observatory than do those far away. Surely, residents of the proposed development will have quite bright outdoor lights for security reasons if nothing else. We ourselves have such lights on our property, but we can turn ours off when needed! Among the research which would be jeopardized by nearby lighting is important to two future NASA space missions. In order to construct instrumentation for these projects, we have had long ongoing projects with multimillion-dollar federally financed budgets. At Pine Bluff we are engaged in very important ground-based studies related to the future space research. Please do not hesitate to call me if there are any further questions you may have. Yours sincerely, John Mathis Chairman, Department of Astronomy JUN j 7 assb