We have been busy working on getting Ivins designated an International Dark Sky Community. This will take at least a year to accomplish, but we’re off to a great start. Here’s an update:
We have studied 9 ordinances that have been passed recently that meet the International Dark Sky Association’s requirements (IDA). The ordinances are from mostly Utah and Arizona communities. We put together a 13-page memo comparing the current Ivins ordinance with the IDA requirements and suggested revisions to our ordinance. Then we met with City staff to review all of this information. Our conclusion: There’s good news and bad, but mostly good news.
In addition to revising our ordinance, IDA requires a lot of other steps, including community outreach, education, monitoring sky brightness, etc. Here’s where we stand on these efforts and what’s next:
- We will launch the community outreach/education on January 8th with a 4-page position paper.
- We created this website with a fair amount of information and will regularly add more.
- We’re working on conducting a student art contest in the next few months. We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but we’re close. There will be an award for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners plus a small cash prize for them (or a gift certificate). The winning art will be used in our community outreach and education.
- We conducted our first night sky brightness survey on December 30th. We surveyed 9 locations in the City and will revisit these sites to conduct semiannual night sky measurements. We verified the appropriateness of those locations with a few local astronomers.
- We also started work on creating a Night Sky Friendly Business Award for businesses. But we just started, so stay tuned for details.
There’s a lot more to do, but this is a good start. If you would like to get involved in any of these projects, let us know. We need all the help and expertise we can get. Send us an email from the Contact us page.