Letter to The Editor:
What does Dark Sky mean to you?

By Michael Ryan, Sedona Resident
(February 10, 2020)

Dark sky generally means fantastic night views of stars, planets, moons, constellations, comets, and whatever wanders through our night sky.  It can be breathtaking and great food for the soul.

To keep our Dark Sky, it takes a community actively promoting and protecting good policies.  The Village of Oak Creek is currently a Certified Dark Sky Community (since 2016). This designation comes from the IDA or the International Dark-Sky Association.  

To be eligible for Dark Sky status, a community must have a governing institution (in our case Yavapai County) that enacts and enforces policies consistent with the requirements of “Minimum Requirements For All Communities.”  The minimum requirements for certification can be summarized as follows:

1. Policies or ordinance with key provisions including but not limited to:
   1. Full Shielding on all light sources over 1000 lumens (about 60 watts for old bulbs, Yavapai County rules stipulate restriction on 100 watts or more),
      1. Simple rule on full shielding means the light from the source is directed down to the ground and cannot be seen directly from off your property
      2. No up-lighting allowed.  (Yavapai County allows this after approval, sometimes referred to as architectural lighting) 
   2. Limits on bright white lighting (Less than 3700 kelvins for the techies. Unfortunately, Yavapai has no stipulations on brightness. Sedona’s limit is 4000 Kelvins.)
   3. Lights out on “advertising signs,” or lights not used for safety when a business closes, or 10 pm whichever is later.
   4. A ten-year limit on grandfathered lighting violations (starting 2016 for the Village)
2. Community commitment to Dark Skies.
3. Broad support for Dark Skies from a wide range of community organizations such as chambers of commerce, local businesses, etc.
4. Community commitment to education about Dark Skies requirements.
5. Success in light pollution control, as demonstrated by construction projects abiding by lighting restrictions that support the goal of dark-sky.
6. A sky brightness measurement program

Let’s look at item 5. Success in light pollution control is under direct threat by the Element hotel.  

The Element has demonstrated a blatant disregard for our County’s lighting regulations. No architect would ever vouch that the lighting scheme on the Element hotel conforms to Yavapai County standards given the use of unshielded Liner LED lighting. 

The staff at IDA technical staff supports this opinion.  “Any lighting source, regardless of the technology, must be shielded.”  Linear LED’s are a serious violation as these lights can emit up to 1000 lumens per foot and the LED’s are 30 feet or more in length for a whopping 30,000 lumens per segment.  Given there are a total of at least ten segments, this pushes the total lumens, perhaps as high as 300,000 lumens. The Element hotel, with its current lighting, is a travesty to our dark skies.

The County has the responsibility to review and approve lighting plans for new construction.  In the County Ordinance, there is a section that describes the approval process “Permits and Development Plan reviews.”  Key provisions include:

All applications shall include the following: 

1. A site plan indicating the proposed location of all outdoor lighting fixtures; 
2. A description of each illuminating device, fixture, lamp, support, and shield. This description may include, but is not limited to, manufacturer’s catalog cuts and drawings (including sections where required), lamp types and lumen outputs; and
3. Such other information as the Development Services Director may determine is necessary to ensure compliance with this Ordinance.

If the Development Services Director determines that the proposed lighting does not comply with this Ordinance, the permit shall not be issued, or the plan approved.

Note ordinance does not say the County can grant a variance.  That would be like someone having a variance for a stop sign allowing them to run any stop sign they want.  The ordinance is beneficial to our community and our business climate. Residents and businesses should abide by the variance, and the county must enforce the variance.

We have no choice but to demand the Element remove or disable all of the linear LED lightings or risk our Dark Sky designation and witness our skies disappear as more and more properties disregard the County Ordinance.