Streetlights – Ivins Night Sky

Talking about color temperature raises everyone’s temperature

Should Ivins increase the permitted color temperature for outdoor lights from 2200K for city streetlights, city bollards, and new commercial and 2700K for new residential properties to 4000K for everything? Should Ivins treat all new commercial, new residential, and city streetlights the same or set separate color temperatures for each of these three uses: streetlights and bollards, new commercial properties, and new residential?

People opposed to colder, whiter 4000K lights express concerns about glare and harshness. People opposed to the warmer light from 2000K – 2700K lights express concerns about safety. Safety is important. But a discussion about safety should be based on standards rather than arbitrary opinions. Research by Kathy Barth shows that Ivins is not less safe than other areas.

What does color temperature look like in real life?

We used a professional spectrometer to measure the color temperature of commercial lights in Ivins so we can visualize what the numbers “look like” in real life. I won’t bore you with the dozens of readings we took from around the city.

Instead, an easy side-by-side comparison of the two extremes is Rocky Vista University and the Crimson Cliffs Student Housing next door. Rocky Vista University’s parking lot lights are 4000K LEDs but have amber filters which lowers the color temperature to approximately 2200K. The Crimson Cliffs Student Housing parking lot lights are unfiltered 4000K LEDs.

Amber filters used in Ivins City streetlights and bollards and installed at Rocky Vista University

Other commercial properties have lights near 2200K even though they were added when 4000K was allowed. And others have 4000K lights, which were allowed when they were put in and continue to be allowed, or grandfathered, regardless of changes to the Lighting Ordinance.

50 years of peace and then…

Everything was fine in Ivins for decades. Problems started appearing about four years ago.

1970 – 2017: High-pressure sodium (HPS) lights were used for streetlights and parking lots. Their color temperature is approximately 1900K.
2017: Ivins started replacing HPS streetlights with 4000K LEDs. The Lighting Ordinance permitted color temperatures up to 4000K. There were a lot of complaints. Solution: The City added amber filters, reducing the color temperature to approximately 2200K.
2019: Rocky Vista University had 4000K parking lot lights. Neighbors complained about the harsh white light and glare. Solution: The University approved adding filters, paid for and installed by local residents, reducing the color temperature to about 2200K.
2019: Because of the problems encountered in the prior couple of years, the City changed the Lighting Ordinance, lowering outdoor lighting color temperatures, for new construction only, to 2200K for commercial and 2700K for residential properties.

Placement versus intensity

When the filters were added at Rocky Vista University, a couple of areas were not illuminated ideally. But these same areas were a problem before adding the filters because pole placement was not ideal. Determining appropriate placement for lighting is just as important for ensuring safety, if not more so. So maybe the safety issue is really about the proper placement of lighting rather than the intensification of light.

So what’s the big deal?

Ivins is blessed to have Red Mountain block light from any source along its entire northern border. Increasing the color temperature to 4000K interferes with the beautiful dark skies we have now. Past installations of 4000K lights resulted in an outcry to lower the harsh, glaring white light. Why repeat past mistakes?

The population of Ivins doubled since 2000 and is expected to double again in just over 20 years. What will our night sky look like with twice the light pollution we have today? Will there be nothing left to see for our children to be inspired by, marvel at, and cherish? Will the wonderment of the night sky be just a distant faded memory for those of us who were once lucky enough to gaze upon it? We can’t let that become our fate.

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.

How many streetlights do we need?

Ivins has had a plan in place since 2007 to add new streetlights as the city grew. The map below shows where the lights would be installed over time.

Editor’s note: Please add your comments about our post at the bottom of this article.

All of the colored dots represent existing and new streetlights that will be installed as development occurs around those locations.

Recently, the City Council has been discussing streetlights. The focus of the discussion has been on the type of lights, pole heights, and color temperatures. But the discussions have also made residents aware of the number of new streetlights the city plans to install over the next 5, 10, or 20 years.

It appears that a lot of residents think this is a new direction for the city. Well, it may be new information for them but the city has had this plan for a dozen years.

Some residents want more light. Others want less. Our view is that lighting is important, but we should take time to determine how much lighting, where it is really needed, and what type of lighting is appropriate. So we’ve started to do a little research to see what other cities are doing.

How many street lights do you need?

Fountain Hills Arizona had a population of 24,583 people in 2017. That’s a lot more than the 2019 estimate for Ivins of 9,315. But it is close to what the ultimate build-out of Ivins is projected at. So it is a good comparison to our city’s 2007 plan because that plan is based on build-out at some point in the future.

Fountain Hills is designated as a Dark Sky Community from the International Dark Sky Association. That’s something we are working towards as well.

We took a street tour of the Fountain Hills, using Google Street View. Then we verified our count with the Fountain Hills Public Works Department. There are 62 streetlights in the city located at fifteen intersections. Fourteen of those are busy intersections in predominantly commercial zones with stop lights as well as streetlights.

Based on the city’s 2017 population, that amounts to one streetlight for every 396 residents.

The map above shows streetlights in Fountain Hills are used primarily in busy commercial areas and not used in residential areas.

This count does not include bollard lights the city installed on the walkway around the lake in Fountain Park or city lights on a two block outdoor commercial mall.

A Google Earth view of Fountain Hills shows that it has significant commercial development. The streetlights are concentrated in the commercial areas.

How does Ivins compare?

Our survey of Ivins streetlights earlier this year, conducted by driving every street in the city, found 151 streetlights. That excludes bollards (those low pathway lights). There are a few more today.

Based on a 2019 population estimate of 9,315 people in Ivins (from the data in the General Plan), there is one streetlight for every 62 residents.

On a per capita basis, Ivins has 6.4 times more streetlights than Fountain Hills Arizona.

Are they happy?

The following comments are from Marissa Moore, AICP, the Senior Planner for Fountain Hills: “We do have very few streetlights. This was a decision made by the town founders. From what I’ve been told it was two-fold: money, and the residents and original developers wanted to maintain the natural environment since that is a huge factor in the attraction to the town. I have not heard of any proposed installation of lights in the future.”

Mark and Mona Bilden are Fountain Hills residents. Here’s what they think about the lack of streetlights in their city: “We love our dark community and don’t miss street lights at all. We do not feel any concerns about safety. If people want to walk at night they can go to the Fountain and the walking path all around is lit with lights that are short and low to see the sidewalk. It is so wonderful to see all the stars at night!”

They bring up a good point though. Bollards have their place. Fountain Hills has very few sidewalks. Ivins makes a point on connecting neighborhoods with walkways, and lighting them with bollards. We measured the lighting pattern of these bollards last week and found they provide quite a bit of street lighting too.

But what about safety?

We asked her about safety. Marissa said, “As far as safety concerns, I’ve not heard too many. There is a learning curve about what the lighting requirements are, and most find that they are not as restrictive as it may seem. And some people actually want them MORE restrictive.”

Conclusion

Fountain Hills is one example. We just started looking at this issue and found a few more communities with few streetlights, but they were smaller than Ivins today and much smaller than Ivins is projected to be at build-out. But we’ll keep looking, so let us know about cities you are familiar with that have few streetlights.

The Fountain Hills research not only showed us it’s possible to have few streetlights and not impact safety negatively, it also suggests streetlights are more appropriate in dense commercial areas, not residential. that’s clear in the map above. Ivins will see more commercial development, but there’s not much likelihood the city will have any sense commercial area.

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. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Measuring light patterns

At the last City Council meeting an Ivins resident and astronomer, Ron Levandosky, spoke to the City Council about a problem he was having with a new streetlight. He asked if there could be another solution that would help him and still satisfy the City’s concerns about safety.

The Mayor, Chris Hart, expressed an interest in looking into Ron’s problem. Chuck Gillette, the City’s Public Works Director told the Mayor that he had already scheduled a nighttime spectrometer analysis of some streetlights with the Ivins Night Sky Initiative that included the streetlight in question.

So we took our new spectrometer out on Wednesday night with Chuck. It was the perfect night for taking measurements: no moon and no clouds. So, if you were out at midnight on Wednesday and saw two grown men sitting in the middle of the street with a tape measure, gadgets, and clipboards, that was us.

Our first stop that night was Ron’s “Cassiopeia Observatory” next to his home which he uses for astrophotography. Ron explained the problem he was having and Chuck asked about the impacts some potential solutions or work-arounds might have. Although there was no “instant” solution that night, it was a good start.

Chuck Gillette, the Ivins City Public Works Director (left) and Ivins resident and astronomer Ron Levandosky (right) look out from Ron’s observatory at the streetlights.

And this issue helped underscore why the spectrometer study we had planned for that night was important. Our goal was to look at how good of a job the City’s new streetlights and bollards did in providing sufficient light on the ground without creating undo glare and light trespass.

And we wanted to isolate the light pattern for bollards. The city is using these to light sidewalks. But they do provide road illumination. Our spectrometer study will tell us how well they illuminate streets in addition to sidewalks. That will help the City determine whether or not bollards could substitute for streetlights in some locations.

Chuck created a model showing the lighting pattern, or photometrics, for these lights a couple of weeks earlier. The model was based on manufacturer specifications, which is okay.

Here is one page of Chuck’s model, showing likely light patterns for two streetlights (the NW and SE corners of the intersection) and bollards.

But we wanted to take “real world” measurements. That’s why we wound up sitting in the middle of the street at midnight. It will take a few weeks to process the results because of other projects and vacations getting in the way. But we’ll post the results once we have them. And we will provide updates of Ron’s situation as we learn more.

But we wanted to take “real world” measurements. That’s why we wound up sitting in the middle of the street at midnight.

It will take a few weeks to process the results because of other projects and vacations getting in the way. But we’ll post the results once we have them. And we will provide updates of Ron’s situation as we learn more.

Taking the bite out of a cobra

An Ivins resident contacted us in February asking for help solving a light trespass problem he has that is caused by a City cobra streetlight like the one shown here. The light is on all night and is located right outside his bedroom window.

We contacted the City and suggested additional shielding to stop the light trespass onto the resident’s property, like what the Santa Clara Harmons did on some of its parking lot lights that were affecting neighboring homes. Here’s a photo of one of the shielded lights.

Alternately, we suggested removing the light completely or turning it off. It is located mid-block, not at an intersection, and the Ivins streetlighting ordinance does not require mid-block streetlights unless there is a crosswalk. There is no crosswalk, and none planned. The utility company charges the City for removals, so there’s a budget issue.

The City’s Public Works Director agreed that the City’s mid-block streetlights are unnecessary and developed a plan to remove them. He did not like the idea of turning off the streetlight because then people call the city to let him know a light is burned out.

Also, we did our own research and were told by Dave Imlay, the Director of Hurricane Power, that he believes a city does not have liability concerns if there is no light but does have liability concerns if there is a light, but it is not working. That left shielding or removal as the only options.

At the beginning of June, the City had the cobra streetlight removed, solving the resident’s light trespass problem and reducing (admittedly minimally) the lumen output of the city.

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