Research snapshot · Environmental · 31 August 2026

Dark sky lighting keeps a steady drumbeat in Maine

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Keep as-is.Our definition of the class, 29 August 2026.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 14 dated municipal records flagged as dark sky lighting in Maine, spanning 13 municipalities. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in Presque Isle, 14 February 2024. Since then 13 Maine towns have put the topic on a meeting record, the newest of them Gorham on 8 June 2026.

The last 90 days put 2 meetings on the record, level with the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Planning Board, All Boards and Pepperell Park Ad Hoc Redesign Committee.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTowns
Sep 2025 to Nov 202500
Dec 2025 to Feb 202677
Mar 2026 to May 202621
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)22

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 7 meetings.

The towns on the record13, earliest first

Every Maine town carrying the topic, the earliest first, each with its latest document.
Presque Isleearliest 2024-02-14 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-02-14 · the minutes Minutes
Orlandearliest 2024-09-11 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-09-11 · the minutes Meeting Minutes 3-7-2022
Yarmouthearliest 2025-02-26 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-02-26 · the document Planning Board — RRP Public Comment Received to Date 2-26-25
Rockportearliest 2026-01-01 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-06-25 · the document MCHT letter to Rockport Planning Board re 3 Cross St. 06.25.26
Rocklandearliest 2026-01-07 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-01-07 · the agenda Agenda center file 1/7/2026 Energy and Sustainability Advisory Committee Meeting
Bangorearliest 2026-01-16 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-01-16 · the agenda Penjajawoc Marsh/Bangor Mall Management Commission Regular Meeting Agenda (PDF)
Sacoearliest 2026-01-21 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-01-21 · the minutes Pepperell Park minutes for November 2025.pdf
Yorkearliest 2026-01-26 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-01-26 · the minutes AgendaCenter minutes
Cumberlandearliest 2026-02-04 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-02-04 · the minutes Agenda center file Lands & Conservation Commission Regular Meeting Agenda (PDF)
Lewistonearliest 2026-02-12 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-02-12 · the agenda 02/12/2026 - Staff Review Committee Meeting
Kennebunkearliest 2026-03-12 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-05-14 · the minutes AgendaCenter minutes
Gorhamearliest 2026-06-08 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-06-08 · the agenda Ordinance Committee Meeting Agenda
Brunswickdated to the year only

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

25 June 2026 · Rockport Planning Board

the document, on the town's own site MCHT letter to Rockport Planning Board re 3 Cross St. 06.25.26

8 June 2026 · Gorham Ordinance Committee

the agenda, on the town's own site Ordinance Committee Meeting Agenda

14 May 2026 · Kennebunk

the minutes, on the town's own site AgendaCenter minutes

12 February 2026 · Lewiston Staff Review Committee

the agenda, on the town's own site 02/12/2026 - Staff Review Committee Meeting

Companies on this record46 companies, 13 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
darksky.orgBangor, Yarmouth
Allen’sOrland
Bangor Savings BankLewiston
BaykeeperCumberland
Brooks Hydro Logic LLCYork
BRSAPresque Isle
Bruce Hill Rd projectCumberland
Brunswick Development Corporation (BDC)Brunswick
Brunswick Topsham Land TrustBrunswick
CCLTCumberland
ChrisKennebunk
Chris Oster eiderKennebunk
ChurchSaco
CMCARockland
EliasRockland
FW Webb DevelopmentPresque Isle
Garbage to GardenKennebunk
Garbage to GardensCumberland
Great Pond Mountain TrustOrland
Harriet Beecher Stowe SchoolBrunswick
Ivy (Baykeeper)Cumberland
Kamp K-9Orland
LibraryRockland
MacDonaldBrunswick
Maine Coast Heritage TrustRockport
Maine School Administrative District #51Cumberland
Maine School Administrative District #51 (MSAD#51)Cumberland
Maine Solar SolutionsYork
MCOGBrunswick
Midcoast Regional Housing TrustRockport

And 16 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 12 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Also at this scope: Dark sky lighting across the country. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Dark sky lighting, Maine

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Maine

every topic this state carries

Area

Environmental

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

13

with a dated document on this topic

Earliest

14 February 2024

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

2 against 2 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours