The Fountain Hills Dark Sky Association is extremely pleased that the Town Council unanimously supported the goal to have Fountain Hills designated as a Dark Sky Community by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA). We want to thank the Council and Town staff for their support.

Our Association has worked for nearly two years on this project. We have accomplished much, including gaining a unanimous vote of the Council in November to update the outdoor lighting ordinance to address new technologies.

Board members of the FH Dark Sky Association are Joe Bill, Nancy Bill, Ted Blank, Clayton Corey, Amberleigh Dabrowski, Mark Derksen, Vicki Derksen, Craig Gimbel, Paul McElligott, Jackie Miles, Jerry Miles and Jay Schlum.

If IDA’s Board of Directors approves our Town’s application, Fountain Hills would be only the 15th community in the world to achieve this prestigious designation, which hopefully will be accomplished by year-end.

One requirement for designation is to educate the community about smart lighting practices that minimize light pollution.

We have committed to this education process and will provide additional detail about things like color temperature, shielding, lumens, electronic message boards and the benefits of Dark Sky Community designation. This will be done through The Fountain Hills Times, presentations to community groups and our website.

Rest assured that in no way do we advocate inadequate lighting for commercial or residential properties. Rather, our goal is to have outdoor lighting be properly shielded and be a warmer color temperature (think amber, not bright white).

To learn more about the FH Dark Sky Association and see some great educational information about lighting, visit our website at fhdarksky.com. If you read the section of the website “About Fountain Hills,” we’re confident you’ll ask yourself the same question we did: “Who would not want to live in Fountain Hills?”