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Open Letter to the Sedona Community

Much has been debated about the effort to establish Sedona as an
International Dark Sky Community.  This letter should set the record
straight as far as that endeavor’s status.
It should be noted that the proposal to establish Sedona as a Dark Sky
Community requires the complete support of the Sedona Section of the IDA. In
addition substantial support is required from among other organizations
including the City Council, Chamber of Commerce, etc.  The Sedona Section of
the IDA is the entity that will manage the process and submit and sign off
on the application to IDA at the appropriate time if the community of Sedona
meets the standards clearly outlined by the IDA.  I serve as the Leader of
the Sedona Section of the IDA and have been personally managing this process
for almost 2 years.  We have made some progress toward the objective of
achieving dark sky community status.  However, Sedona has significant work
to accomplish to meet the criteria established by the International Dark Sky
Association.
At this point in time, the Sedona Section of the IDA does not support moving
forward with this endeavor due to the fact that the community and the City
of Sedona has not met the numerous standards necessary to assemble a
legitimate application.  One of many considerations is that fact that the
statistical data does not show that continuous roadway lighting will improve
safety on SR 89A and, as a result, the Sedona Section of the IDA position is
that the installation of continuous roadway lighting constitutes
“unnecessary” and “over lighting” of our community.  This is an important
criteria which must be met for the application.  This assessment is a
result of careful analysis of the accident data and the research which
details the ineffectiveness of roadway lighting to improve safety on SR 89A.
The bottom line is that CRL on SR89A is not a reasonable solution to safety
supported by the facts and statistics.  The IDA Sedona section does support
the consensus report of the89A safety panel which did not recommend
continuous roadway lighting for SR 89A.
Finally, as can be seen from the criteria, there are numerous standards that
Sedona must meet which have not been achieved.  As a result of these
substandard accomplishments the Sedona Section of the IDA will not be moving
a proposal forward for this designation in the foreseeable future.  When
substantial progress has been made toward meeting the standards and the
issue of safety on SR89A is resolved in an appropriate manner without
unnecessary over lighting of our community we will move forward.  We
appreciate the hard work of the City staff to get the many out of compliant
lights into compliance over the last year.  Much work is left to be done.
We encourage the City staff, City Council and community to give serious
consideration to meeting the objectives in a legitimate way in order to move
this proposal forward in the foreseeable future.  I am personally committed
to securing the recognition of International Dark Sky Community for Sedona
in a legitimate fashion.  I appreciate the support of all those in the
community who are helping with this cause.
Thank you

Cliff Ochser

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