Category: Ordinance

Ivins Night Sky continues to focus on protecting our Night Sky

  In September 2021 the Ivins City Council approved final revisions to the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance. While there were some very objectionable proposed changes in the beginning, because of your comments and concerns, the final ordinance retains strong provisions that will help protect our night sky. 

Some of the major changes include:

– Definitions and clarifications were added for Illuminated Signs, Correlated Color Temperature (CCT), Kelvin, height of luminaires and visible light source.
– Electronic Message Boards were listed under “Prohibited Lighting”.
– Maintained that the standard CCT for residential outdoor lighting and non-residential lighting for streets and parking lots shall be 3,000 degrees K or less.
– Inserted figures describing and providing requirements for light trespass, fully-shielded fixtures, walkway lighting, canopy lighting.
– Clarified that backlighting must not be visible beyond your property boundary.
– Requires security lighting be on a timer and not be triggered by off-property activity.
– Added requirements for private sport court facilities.

What’s happening with the Shivwits soccer fields?

If you have recently driven out Highway 91 past Fire Lake you may have noticed the earth-moving equipment behind the Shivwits Gas Station & Convenience Store.  The Shivwits Band is constructing a soccer field complex complete with lighting for night games.  Ivins Night Sky has been working with the Shivwits since March 2021 to influence the design of the lighting system so it minimizes the light pollution off-site. What we do not want is sports lighting similar to what exists at nearby Unity Park, Gubler Park and The Canyons Softball Fields where the lights are not properly shielded and broadcast light well beyond the sports fields into neighboring communities.  The ultimate goal is a design that approaches the International Dark Sky Association’s criteria for ‘Community Friendly Sports Lighting’.

So far the Shivwits Band has taken this effort seriously, as they have a positive ethic towards environmental conservation and also want to minimize light pollution and its impact on Dark Skies.  The reality is a well-designed lighting system is going to have additional costs and there will likely be a community fund-raising effort to help defray the incremental cost.  More information will be following.

For more information, please click on these links:

Utah Youth Soccer Legacy Fields at Shivwits

A Soccer Mecca: Complex groundbreaking a big step for both Shivwits, Utah Youth Soccer Association

International Dark Sky Community-Friendly Sports Lighting Design Certification

Why I object to lighting ordinance changes

By Kai Reed, Ivins resident

I am writing to express my opposition to some of what I consider detrimental changes proposed by the Planning Commission to our lighting ordinance. I watched/listened to all the discussions during the PC meetings regarding these changes and was very concerned with the competency of the process. 

My major concerns are:

  • 1. Changes outside what were asked
  • 2. Did not get expert advice to answer questions they were unsure of
  • 3 Used “safety” to justify changes without statistical support and
  • 4. Approved an ordinance they knew was defective but wanted to “punt” it to City Council.

#1: Changes outside what were asked

I am disturbed the Planning Commission made changes outside the direction given by the City Council. In the Dec. 15th PC meeting Bryan Pack stated “A year ago the City council did give the PC direction on very limited things such as message boards that need to be changed…none of which affected the night sky portion.”  Updating definitions and using the latest technology is appropriate, however, increasing the color temperature, eliminating amber filters and permitting unlimited color temperature of lights is totally uncalled for, outside what they were asked to do and will most definitely have a negative impact on our night sky.  The Commissioners acknowledged over and over again that protecting and preserving the night sky was an important component of the General Plan yet their decisions have weakened those protections. 

#2: Did not get expert advice to answer questions they were unsure of

I also found it extremely troubling that over and over again commission members asked questions about why they should increase color temperature to 4000K and no one was able to provide a satisfactory explanation. In fact it was noted many times that the commission needed an “expert” to help them understand what impact the changes would have.  In the Jan. 5th meeting it was noted we “need an expert to clean up technical language”, “(we need to) get experts to help with numbers and definitions.” At one point one of the commissioners actually said “are we just pulling numbers out of a hat?” Lance Anderson told the other members how they had arrived at the original number by actually going out at night and having a display of different lights and seeing for themselves the impacts the brighter lights had. He suggested the PC members do the same but his advice was ignored. And Dale Coulam told the Commission members there was a process in place to obtain the services of a specialist or expert but again, the Planning Commission never chose to do so.  In another meeting Dale stated “if you are not going to have staff retain an expert, then recommend to City Council the type of expert to be retained and have Staff go through requests for proposals.” Again ignored.

#3: Used “safety” to justify changes without statistical support

Another concern is the focus on “safety” over all other considerations.  It was implied that Ivins is a very dangerous place, that crime is high and we need more and brighter lights to keep everyone safe.  These arguments have been refuted many times.  Kathy Barth submitted a very detailed and comprehensive report (Shedding light on crime trends) to the PC showing that in fact, crime is very low in Ivins. Other studies were submitted that show that just increasing lights does not deter crime.  The PC members either did not read those reports and studies or chose to ignore them and continued to use “safety” as the excuse for weakening the current ordinance. 

#4: Approved an ordinance they knew was defective but wanted to “punt” it to City Council

I feel the Planning Commission knew they were approving and passing a defective ordinance.  Several times the Commission Chair said he wanted “to push this forward to City Council to put this in the realm it needs to be in to tell us yes or no.” “Punt it to them and get it where it needs to be.”  “push this to the City Council for discussion…amongst those who are more directly accountable to the citizenry.”  I feel the PC abdicated their responsibility and just wanted to get the ordinance off their agenda. Even Dale Coulam told them “Give the best recommendation  you can and if you don’t know that specific technical number, recommend the type of expert needed for that to help get them that number.” Again advice not taken.

What I do support

I do support prohibiting electronic message boards, updating definitions and lowering the lighting on state & national flags.

What I do not support

I do not support increasing the kelvin number to 4000, eliminating any upper limit on color temperatures even if they are motion activated with timers or eliminating amber filers. No sufficient reason was ever given in the PC meetings as to why these changes were necessary. I also do not support language that is unenforceable such as “Exterior lighting shall be allowed at levels necessary for safety and security purposes.”

Shedding light on crime trends in Ivins

This is a summary of research conducted in January By Ivins resident Kathy Barth based on FBI and Utah BCI statistics, which was a recommendation by Police Captain Rogers. The data source combines Ivins and Santa Clara. St George data is presented for comparison (see note at bottom).

The Planning Commission appears to assume that more lighting and whiter lighting (higher color temperatures) reduces crime and increases safety.  Based on that assumption, St George should have lower per capita crime rates because they likely have more lighting and certainly have higher color temperature lighting than the Ivins streetlights and bollards.

That is not the case. Santa Clara/Ivins has significantly less crime, even adjusting for population. The statistics do not support the assumption that more and/or whiter lighting increases safety.

Captain Rogers ran a report of the times of calls. It groups “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” calls with “I’ve just been robbed” calls and “My home/equipment have been damaged” calls. Crime data alone wasn’t available.

The graph shows twice as many incidents during daylight compared to after dark. This also does not support the assumption that more and/or whiter lighting increases safety.

What’s the real issue?

Recent public comments expressed a desire for more lighting, so Kathy drove around the city.  Some city streets appear to have fewer streetlights than others. So, the real issue may not be as simple as just more and whiter, but where.

A review of street lighting placement in the city would determine if there are areas where more streetlights and/or bollards may be appropriate and desired by the residents in those locations.

Notes: Additional information available: Data by type of crime; Incidents by hour and by day of week. Captain Rogers said it would take months to gather/collate that data for Ivins only.

Ivins Mayor addresses Planning Commission about its Outdoor Lighting Ordinance discussions

Mayor Hart addressed the Planning Commission last night about the Commission’s discussion about making changes to the Outdoor Lighting Ordinance. Jeffrey Burch, an Ivins resident, listened to the meeting and sent us the following summary of the Mayor’s key comments.

He noted that he was typing quickly and these are not direct quotes. But we listened to the meeting too and his summary appears accurate to us.

Editor’s note: Click here if you want to hear his complete presentation and then click on the second “A” (Discuss existing lighting ordinance). The Mayor’s comments go from approximately the 10 minute point to 23 minutes.

Planning Commissioners are appointed by the mayor, with the advice of the City Council, to perform the crucial planning function for the City Council for action that is ultimately taken and implemented.

Night sky discussions date back a very long time, before I was here.

I am reminding you the purpose of the Planning Commission is to implement the General Plan.  There are several references to the protection of the night sky in the General Plan.  It is part of the vision statement for the city.

As you go through your deliberation and you find your discussion to be in contrast to the principals of the General Plan, this is not what you have been put in place as a Planning Commissioner to do.

I would like to correct some conjecture about the Dark Sky Initiative (Ivins Night Sky Initiative). I feel that having international designation as a Dark Sky Community would be a feather in the cap for Ivins.

I asked the Rocky Vista University to work with the Dark Sky Initiative to filter the 4,000K lights that were obnoxious to look at from below the university, which most of the city is.

They came up with the amber filters to simulate the pleasant illumination of the high-pressure sodium lights that are no longer available for replacement.

High pressure sodium lamps were the global standard of safe lighting for decades.

Bob, I have heard you reference individual property owners about lighting their property as they want, but I would remind you that a city that has a clear vision of itself can establish its own standards.  This is supported all the way up to the Utah Supreme Court.

This discussion at Planning Commission meetings has gone awry and away from the principles of the General Plan.

The City Council CAN revise the General Plan as it is a living document, but it is NOT the role of the Planning Commission to revise the General Plan or any of its principles.

Planning Commission proposes changes to Outdoor Lighting Ordinance

We have just received a copy of proposed changes to the Ivins City Regulations for Outdoor Lighting. There are some very, very concerning changes that could dramatically impact the quality of our dark skies and contribute more light pollution to our area.

We are not sure why the Planning Commission has proposed such drastic changes. We recommended the City consider making changes to the ordinance last year that would strengthen the protections for a night sky but at that time the City Council decided to leave the ordinance as is with the exception of creating a prohibition for electronic message boards.

Here are some of our immediate concerns:

  • Removed “To preserve, protect, and enhance the natural beauty of the “night sky” under 16.23.101 PURPOSE and have removed ALL references to protecting the night sky throughout the Ordinance.
  • Proposed increasing the correlated color temperature (CCT) of outdoor lamps from 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Kelvin.
  • Have substituted “required” for many provisions that would protect the night sky with disclaimers such as ” unless this will compromise safety or security”
  • Have removed most requirements for amber filters which reduce the amount of light pollution.
  • Are exempting Home Accent Lighting from all provisions. This has the potential to allow homeowners to shine lights throughout their yard with no regard to light trespass.

When our current Outdoor Lighting Ordinance was written it was more respectful and balanced than the ordinances in most, if not all other communities in Utah. But in the past couple of years many communities in Utah, the Southwest, and around the country have surpassed Ivins with new thoughtful and carefully researched changes to their outdoor lighting ordinances. With these proposed changes not only is Ivins missing the opportunity of strengthening their ordinance but are taking huge steps backwards and is losing its vision and distinct identity.

TAKE ACTION NOW

The Planning Commission will be discussing these proposed changes tomorrow, TUESDAY, December 15 at 5:30pm. Write comments TODAY and submit to: Bryan Pack, Planning Commission Chair here or Sharon Allen, Deputy City Recorder here. Attend this meeting via ZOOM.

Click here for a copy of the proposed changes. And click here for information about how to attend tomorrow’s meeting using Zoom on your computer.

Ivins & Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine Take the Lead in Improving Nighttime Health & Safety

The Ivins City Council took groundbreaking action this evening on what we believe to be the lead nationally in dramatically improving nighttime health and safety for Ivins residents with changes to its outdoor lighting ordinance.

The Ivins City Council gets an overview of the recommendations for changes to the city’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance from Mike Scott with the Ivins Night Sky Initiative.

The city now requires that the maximum color temperature for all new outdoor non-residential lighting is 3,000 degrees Kelvin, down from 4,000. But more importantly, these new lights will be required to add amber filters the city designed that effectively reduces the color temperature to about 2,200 degrees Kelvin, eliminating almost all the blue light emitted by LEDs that creates safety and health problems. Outdoor lighting for new residential development will be limited to no more than 2,700 degrees Kelvin.

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM) is going even further.

The city’s new requirements only affect new construction, but RVUCOM has begun a study sponsored by the Ivins Night Sky Initiative to see if these new requirements can be effectively retrofitted into existing lighting while continuing to meet the university’s need to provide nighttime safety for their students. The study will also look for a solution to another problem magnified by LEDs: unwanted glare.

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Ivins campus.

The City has long required outdoor lighting to be fully shielded, meaning light fixtures can’t aim light up into the sky. But even fully shielded fixtures send light out horizontally as well as down. That not only wastes light by sending it where it isn’t needed, it creates a glare problem.

RVUCOM’s study will help others determine the feasibility of retrofitting their own lighting to reduce blue light and glare. It will also help the city in its efforts to get designated as a Dark Sky Community by the International Dark Sky Association.

What’s the big deal?

LED lighting is quickly replacing High Pressure Sodium lights and other older technologies because LEDs are so much more energy efficient. You can easily spot the difference. The older technologies produce a softer, warmer, more comfortable light compared to the bright white light from LEDs. That’s because LEDs emit a lot of blue light while the older technologies emit very little, if any blue light.

Blue light rays have short wavelengths just above ultraviolet light. We’ve known for a long time that ultraviolet light can be harmful. It can burn. That’s why we wear sunscreen. We’re learning that too much blue light can also be harmful.

  • The blue part of the light spectrum is responsible for creating most of the glare we see. Glare constricts your pupils, diminishing your eyes’ ability to adapt to low-light conditions, like nighttime.
  • Scientists are just beginning to understand the negative impacts on health, including blue light’s contribution to cardiovascular disease, sleep, metabolic and immunological disorders, obesity, cancer, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and more.
  • And blue light is disruptive to plants, animals, crop pollination, and on and on.

How does the Ivins solution work?

Ivins City has found a way to use LED technology but take out most of the blue light. That eliminates the added health and safety risks from LEDs compared to older technologies and results in a warmer, more pleasing light.

Wilson Jimenez, the Ivins City employee who came up with the filter, finishes installing the prototype anti-glare shield on a light fixture for Rocky Vista University along with the three anti-blue spectrum filters.
Alan Koharcheck and Tim Povlick, members of the Ivins Night Sky Initiative, in the City’s shop with Wilson Jimenez making a final check of the prototype before unveiling it to the University.
Ivins Mayor Chris Hart shows the finished prototype to Kristine Jenkins , Rocky Vista University’s Director of Campus Operations and Terry Meyer, Manager of Public Safety and Security.
Tim Povlick, a member of the Ivins Night Sky Initiative’s Technical Committee, tests the finished prottype anti-glare shield.

For more information about the progress of this study, blue light health and safety issues, or other information about outdoor lighting, contact us or visit their website at IvinsNightSky.org. The Ivins Night Sky Initiative is a 100% volunteer, not for profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, citizen organization. Also visit the International Dark Sky Association’s website at www.darksky.org.  For more information regarding Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine please visit the website at http://www.rvu.edu/.

Add your comments

Please post your comments using the form at the bottom of this article. We would like to get your views about this article and about our Initiative.

Join us

Let us know if this Initiative is important to you, if you are willing to get involved, and what else you think we should be doing to improve, preserve, and protect the night skies in Ivins.

Just because we have submitted recommendations for changes to the city’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance doesn’t mean we’re done. Far from it. Seriously, far from it! We can really use your talent and energy to make our Initiative’s vision and goals a reality.

Email us and we will get back to you right away.

News Release: Moving Quickly to Protect the Night Sky

A project started by two Ivins residents in January to improve, preserve, and protect the night sky over Ivins and get the City officially designated as a Dark Sky Community has grown quickly. Now, barely two months later, the Ivins Night Sky Initiative is a Utah nonprofit corporation, has a four-person board of directors, ten volunteers, four technical advisors, and some funding to sponsor community events and selected night sky friendly retrofit demonstration projects.

City Council Acts

And they are already getting results. At the last Ivins City Council meeting, the Council agreed to review the draft outdoor lighting ordinance submitted by the Initiative and pursue designation from the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) as a Dark Sky Community.

Adam Dalton, the Dark Sky Places Program Manager at IDA, commented that, “Things are moving really quickly. It is fantastic to see the progress the Initiative is making; their passion and organization skills are clearly evident.”

The Initiative’s 40-page draft ordinance will now go to the City’s Technical Review Committee (TRC) before heading to the Planning Commission and public hearings. The Initiative’s Technical Committee is working on several research reports to help the TRC evaluate the proposed ordinance.

Mike Scott, the Initiative’s president, said, “The draft not only includes requirements set out by the IDA, it also incorporates a number of best practice additions we discovered while reviewing about a dozen other ordinances passed in the past few years by other communities, mostly in the Southwest.”

Students to be Honored this Week

As for community outreach, the Initiative recently sponsored a student art contest at Vista School, with awards for the best interpretation of the night sky over Ivins. The Mayor and City Council invited the five winners to its next meeting this Thursday, March 21st to formally honor the students for their vision and interest in the night sky. Their artwork is currently on display at City Hall.

Interpreting the night sky over Ivins, by Faith Olson, Grade 8

But Wait… There’s More Coming

That’s just the beginning according to Patty Dupre, a founding director of the Initiative. She says, “Our new Events Committee is working on two exciting events for April, and more after that. We will post information about the April events on our website at IvinsNightSky.org next week.”

We can use your help in two ways

First, tell us you support our efforts. Here’s why this is important.

Second, join us. We need help and expertise on organizing events and conducting research on outdoor lighting issues important to Ivins. To learn more about getting involved, either a little or a lot, contact us.

City Council Takes Action

Last night the Ivins City Council agreed to review the city’s outdoor lighting ordinance. The goal: Make changes to meet the requirements of the International Dark Sky Association and pursue designation as a Dark Sky Community.

The next step will be a detailed review by the City’s Technical Review Committee of the 40 page draft ordinance we have submitted. Compared to the current 15 page ordinance, there are clearly a lot of additions we’re recommending. But some of the 40 pages involve discussion of options.

The Technical Review Committee will probably need a couple of months to finish its review. Then a draft ordinance would go to the Planning Commission for its review and a public hearing. Finally it will head to City Council for its turn at reviewing the draft, holding another public hearing, and making a final decision.

Red Desert Designed to be Dark Sky Friendly Development

Rob Roush, the developer of the Red Desert subdivision in Ivins, contacted us last month because he was interested in making his development next to Red Mountain as dark sky friendly as possible. He also helped us on our first nighttime outing to measure the color temperature of lights in the City.

Over the past month or so, we exchanged a number of emails and discussed outdoor lighting issues he was dealing with in drafting his CC&Rs. Rob recently filed CC&Rs and sent us a copy. Rob had clearly done a lot of homework.

Red Desert’s CC&Rs are more restrictive than out current outdoor lighting ordinance. And they are more restrictive than the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) requires for communities seeking certification as Dark Sky Communities.

For example, our current ordinance allows the color temperature of outdoor lighting to be has high as 4,000 degrees kelvin. That’s too high and the City has plans to reduce that requirement to 3,000k or lower. IDA requires a maximum of 3,000k. Rob’s CC&Rs requires a range between 2,200k and 3,000k with a target of 2,700k.

Red Mountain as seen in unusual February snow from the Red Desert development site

IDA also requires properties limit the total amount of outdoor lighting. Our existing ordinance doesn’t really address that, it’s a newer concept in outdoor lighting circles. Red Desert’s CC&Rs not only address overall limits, they also set a maximum amount of lumens for each type of outdoor lighting use. And Rob’s CC&Rs are not only more protective about shielding lights than our current ordinance, they are more protective than IDA requires.

Thank you Rob for taking the efforts of our Ivins Night Sky Initiative to heart.

For more information about night sky friendly lighting, projects we are working on, upcoming events, or inquiring about getting involved, Contact Us.

What We Know and Don’t Know About Color Temperature

The color temperature of outdoor lighting has become a big deal in the past few years. LED technology has given us incredible energy efficiency. But more and more we are learning that this benefit comes at a cost: Too much glare, too bright, to much harmful blue wavelength emissions, and more. The old technology these LEDs are replacing, low- and high-pressure sodium lights, don’t have any of those problems.

The current outdoor lighting ordinance in Ivins sets a maximum color temperature of 4,000 degrees kelvin. Our ordinance is very dark sky friendly, and at the time it was implemented in 2007 it was probably a model of dark sky friendliness.

But time moves on. The “gold standard” today is to install lighting with a color temperature no more than 3,000 degrees kelvin. That is the requirement for designation as a Dark Sky Community by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA).

But some argue that 3,000k is still too high. For more information, see articles by Christian Luginbuhl, a retired scientist from the United States Naval Observatory in Flagstaff at the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition.

So, last night we went out to measure the color temperature of some outdoor lighting in Ivins. We were accompanied by Rob Roush of Red Earth Development. He is developing the Red Desert subdivision in Ivins next to the Reserve. He contacted us last month because he wants to maximize the dark sky friendliness of his project and has been searching for answers about appropriate color temperatures for his development’s outdoor lighting.

Technological improvements are great, but they can create more work, especially for those who pay attention. Color temperature is something nobody ever had to pay much attention to.

First, a disclaimer. Our outing last night is just a preliminary step. We need to do a lot more research, especially since the results we got raised some questions. But it was eye-opening.

We used a high-end spectrometer, the AsenseTek Lighting Passport. It’s an expensive little device that costs about $2,000. It communicates with an app on your cellphone. We were fortunate to be able to borrow it from IDA.

We measured some of the bollards on the west side of Rocky Vista University on 200 N. The spectrometer reading as under 1,600k for these. We’ll have to doublecheck with the City, but we believe the light source is an LED rated at well over 2000k.

City staff told us they added a “lens” to these lights that seems to lower the color temperature. But that’s still a big difference. It may be caused by the light source bouncing off a bowl shaped dome, and the dome’s color lowering the color temperature. Well, there’s some homework.

The color temperature of one of the city’s cobra lights was 1,851k. The light source in cobras is typically high pressure sodium. But they are slowly being replaced by LEDs.

We measured a number of other lights and got similarly low color temperature readings. Maybe the app we downloaded didn’t like our android phone. So Rob downloaded the app on his iPhone. He got the same readings.

For example, the newer post top lantern lights the City is installing were around 1,800k using both phones. We were expecting higher readings.

Maybe the AsenseTek spectrometer was giving us incorrect readings. That seemed unlikely. It’s an expensive, professional device.

But we were still concerned. Maybe we were measuring incorrectly. We tested that by taking a meter reading right next to the light source and a reading a number of feet away from the light source. We got the same result. That’s how it should be. We are measuring the color temperature of the light, not the amount of light, or illumination.

So we continued. The Veterans Center has parking lot lights that read just over 1,700k. These appear to be sodium lights. And it looks like a few were fluorescent, which came in at close to 3,000k. These readings made sense.

Similarly, the parking lot lights at Rocky Vista University registered around 4,000k. That also made sense. These are LED lights and our current ordinance allows lighting up to 4,000k. We found other parking lot lighting that had even higher kelvin readings, some close to 5,000k and some even higher. These were probably installations that predated our current ordinance.

Why go to all this effort? If we are going to recommend changes to the city’s outdoor lighting ordinance, we need to understand what lighting in the city might look like in the future.

This was a first step, and it certainly wasn’t a giant leap for Ivinkind, but at least it’s a start. We have some homework to do with IDA, AsenseTek, and the City.

If you have any expertise in lighting issues, we would value your input. Let us know if you are willing to help by emailing us from the Contact us page.