I attended the Town Council meeting on Oct. 4 and saw a wonderful presentation regarding the beautiful design and planning for the International Dark Sky Discovery Center that will hopefully become a reality someday in Fountain Hills.

The desired lobby design, huge telescope and the various interactive activities planned for this 22,000-square-foot space is truly impressive. Of course, they still have a ways to go to obtain funding, with the goal of $25 million in order to have sufficient operating costs up front for at least a few years. Hopefully some big Arizona investor gets involved. I believe that they currently have $8.5 million in the kitty. They would also pay to relocate the Community Garden.

If you have not seen this presentation, please seek out the video online from the Council meeting and you will be in awe of this project. This would be a huge asset to our community and bring in people from all over the United States and beyond. Those visitors would spend money at our businesses, hotels and restaurants. These are the types of projects that Fountain Hills should be known for. Nothing ordinary, such as a generic health and wellness brand (which may even include drug rehabs), that bring no financial benefits to our small town.

Finding unique draws to our community such as the Discovery Center, our well-attended art shows, special events and our famous Fountain will bring in people and families from everywhere. These types of projects are exactly where efforts and energy should be focused.