{"id":25040,"date":"2024-11-04T05:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T12:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/comets-appearance-illuminates-durangos-dark-sky-policy\/"},"modified":"2024-11-04T12:15:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T12:15:00","slug":"comets-appearance-illuminates-durangos-dark-sky-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/comets-appearance-illuminates-durangos-dark-sky-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Comet\u2019s appearance illuminates Durango\u2019s dark sky policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"When
When searching from the college mesa for a comet, falling star, UFO, or whatever, lights from the Durango High School stadium are hard to ignore. (B. Medown Scotty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear Action Line: Recently, we were gifted with the return of a once-every-80,000-years comet. From the college mesa, as I scanned the horizon, my eyes were constantly assaulted by some very bright lights from our beloved city. I finally figured out they were coming from the high school football field. Does Durango have a dark sky policy? Are these field lights complying? After locating and observing the comet I drove to the school, and the lights look to be aimed down. So, can you explain why I saw the light? \u2013 B. Medown Scotty<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Medown: Action Line missed it and is now patiently awaiting Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS\u2019s return in \u2026 let\u2019s see \u2026 that\u2019ll be the year 82024. October, right? Action Line is scrolling, but can\u2019t find that year on the phone calendar to leave a reminder. Let\u2019s see \u2026 2533 \u2026 2534. Seriously, try it, our phone calendars really do go that far!<\/p>\n

There. Action Line just left a reminder to \u201cvent plasma\u201d on Aug. 12, 2533 at 5 p.m. Wonder what Future Action Line will make of that?!<\/p>\n

So, about the lights: Back around 2005, the city of Durango adopted a dark sky ordinance that regulates outdoor lighting. The components of this, listed in the city\u2019s Land Use and Development Code (Division 4-3-2, Sections 1-8), include lots of nitty-gritty details from which Action Line will spare you.<\/p>\n

Sky gazers, and anyone who wishes for a more primordial or at least pre-industrial-era sky, are appreciative of the code stipulations.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, the city\u2019s lighting codes discuss luminaires, mounting heights, lamp lumens, lighting zones and other highly technical stuff. It discusses impacts such as \u201cdisturbing the biological cycles of flora and fauna and\/or detracting from human enjoyment and appreciation of the natural environment.\u201d That\u2019s for Lighting Zone 0, where \u201cNo Ambient Lighting\u201d is allowed. LZ4 (High Ambient Lighting) is the zone where you\u2019d find a stadium, and a \u201cspecialty lighting permit\u201d is required there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose lights are obviously not totally shielded from shining up a bit,\u201d said Charlie Hakes, senior lecturer of physics and engineering at Fort Lewis College and a Herald<\/em> astronomy columnist. \u201cThat is actually quite a challenge for any stadium, but I have seen pictures of how it could be done. We regularly have problems with the rooftop observatory (at Sitter Family Hall on campus) and the lights from the softball fields. I don\u2019t mind as much when there is actually a game going on, but it looks to me like those lights are often on when there are no games.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as a grandfather clause, Hakes asked: \u201cIf you were dumping toxic waste into the Animas, would that be grandfathered?\u201d<\/p>\n

Action Line pointed out that nobody dies from light pollution, and Hakes responded that although no humans will die, \u201cJust don\u2019t ask the migratory birds about light pollution. Or those unimportant insects like bees.\u201d<\/p>\n

City of Durango spokesman Tom Sluis confirmed that the stadium lights were installed before the dark sky ordinance, \u201cback in the days where brash Durango wanted neighboring states to know when the Demons were playing. Because, football. Foot-ball! Brighter is better!! Today\u2019s Durango is a bit different. It\u2019s more demure, more mindful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, Sluis said, the new lights at the city-run Chapman Hill Ski Area will be dark sky compliant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought about putting in non-dark sky compliant lights at Chapman that would pretty much burn your eyeballs out if you looked at them, along with searchlights pointed at the night sky, lasers, fog machines and nightly bonfires, maybe some primal screaming on loudspeakers, but then the secret would be out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good point. And neighbors love primal screaming, but there\u2019s also that pesky noise ordinance.<\/p>\n

Wait, we interrupt this column with a special news bulletin: There\u2019s an agenda item about \u201cdark sky standards\u201d on the City\u2019s Council\u2019s meeting Tuesday. The gist is that the city government wants to help certify Durango as an \u201cInternational Dark Sky Community,\u201d and has prepared an update of lighting regulations. One goal is to make it \u201ceasier for staff and the community to understand, measure and enforce the standards.\u201d Here’s the meeting agenda; check out pages 206-245: http:\/\/bit.ly\/3YNZEBn.<\/p>\n

Now back to the column.<\/p>\n

Upon further pondering, here\u2019s a final thought: Maybe the comet hasn\u2019t disappeared to us forever. Maybe someday, maybe long before 82024, we\u2019ll just be able to go space truckin\u2019 up to the Oort Cloud any time we want and cruise alongside the comet for an up-close view.<\/p>\n

Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com<\/a> or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. FYI: If you do decide to scroll forward to 2533 or beyond, you will learn that it\u2019s a pain to scroll all the way back. So either you want to find a way to avoid scrolling, or maybe just take Action Line\u2019s word for this.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

searching from the college mesa for a comet, falling star, UFO, or whatever, lights from the Durango High School stadium are hard to ignore. (B. Medown Scotty) Dear Action Line: Recently, we were gifted with the return of a once-every-80,000-years comet. From the college mesa, as I scanned the horizon, my eyes were constantly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25040"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}