Heber City wants to keep the sky clear day and night, and the city council passed measures this week to reduce smoke and light pollution.
At its meeting Tuesday, the council passed air quality and dark sky ordinances.
“We’re a non-attainment area. We don’t have the air pollution the way that the Wasatch Front does. We want to maintain that. We want to maintain the non-attainment area. We’ve lined up our code so that we can be very proactive when it comes to maintaining our air quality,” said Heidi Franco, Heber City Council member.
She said the air quality ordinance is designed to be voluntary educational outreach.
“This new air quality ordinance does not take away anyone’s outdoor fire pits, it does not take away anybody’s smokers. It’s not taking away anything that anyone has right now. ON new developments – new residential, commercial development – there will be a wood-burning stove ban.”
Newly built homes can still have wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, but they must be EPA-approved.
Heber City will post new signs to encourage drivers to turn off engines while they are idle. These will go in places like restaurant drive-through lanes.
As another “good practice” that will not be required, homeowners will be encouraged to test for radon inside their homes. Radon is a radioactive gas that cannot be seen or smelled but is dangerous in high concentrations.
The city will also negotiate with developers to include electric vehicle charging stations in garages and residential areas.
“I care about Heber air” is the official slogan for the initiative.
According to another new ordinance as of Tuesday, single-family-home areas in new developments must be dark sky-compliant.
That means outdoor light bulbs must be 3000 Kelvin color and LED, which gives off a softer glowing light. Color temperature is measured in Kelvin to quantify the light appearance of a bulb.
On Tuesday, the council decided all new light fixtures must be 16 feet or less. Fixtures must also be full cutoff going forward, meaning they must project all light in a downward direction. This applies to new developments in town and in public parks and grounds in the future, too.
