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LDS Church’s lighting code request in Wasatch County scheduled for public hearing, vote

[STOCK IMAGE] Lights shine upward above a city skyline. This week, the Wasatch County Council will consider an update of its rules on uplighting and other outdoor lighting regulations.
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[STOCK IMAGE] Lights shine upward above a city skyline. This week, the Wasatch County Council will consider an update of its rules on uplighting and other outdoor lighting regulations.

A week after a public hearing on dark sky rules in Wasatch County packed out the Wasatch County Senior Center, the county council could make a decision on the matter Wednesday.

A public hearing and potential vote by the Wasatch County Council this Wednesday could change the county’s code for regulating outdoor light.

“I know that the council considers this a very important issue, and I expect them to deliberate quite a bit,” County Manager Dustin Grabau said. “I think there's a couple different possible outcomes. One, I think that they could propose to adopt the code as it currently is presented. What I think is more likely is that they may either adopt it and suggest changes to it or require changes to that code. Or, they may continue it and ask for the staff to provide additional changes to the code as presented.”

Grabau said he expected the council to spend significant time discussing a few specific recommendations by the planning commission. Those include whether the county should regulate lighting specific to the heights where they might be installed, and whether all the rules should apply to residences.

It’s a topic that has caused Heber Valley residents to weigh issues such as views of the night sky and a new temple, most recently in a planning commission meeting last week that brought out over 100 people.

In late 2022, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints requested Wasatch County change its outdoor lighting code.

In the months that followed, county staff said they worked with a dark skies consultant and drafted a new amendment proposal.

The biggest change the Church is seeking, and what the county’s new rules would allow for, is uplighting. Currently, outdoor lights in Wasatch County can point down or straight out but may not point up.

Grabau said the county’s goal is to modernize regulations and come into compliance with dark sky standards, not grant special concessions for the future LDS temple.

In addition to uplighting regulations, the new ordinance would also standardize specific metrics of light. This is where the Church and Wasatch County differ. LDS representatives asked the county planning commission last Thursday for more allowances on color temperature and other lighting measurements, in order to light the church the way they want.

An survey conducted by a neighborhood group in support of dark skies received over 1,000 responses in late February. 95% of respondents said the county should enforce even more restrictions to reduce the amount of light allowed at night.

A separate online petition entitled “Let the Light Shine on the Temple” garnered nearly 3,000 signatures by Tuesday.

Curtis Miner, an architect working on behalf of the Church, said plans for the Heber temple call for much less lighting than other temples have.

The planning commission forwarded the proposal to the council without making a positive or negative recommendation.

The possible decision coincides with statewide attention to the subject of dark skies.

For the third time, Utah Governor Spencer Cox declared the month of April Dark Sky Month in Utah.

The public hearing and potential vote about the lighting code is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Wasatch County Senior Center, 465 East 1200 South in Heber City. That follows a regular meeting at 4 p.m.

The full agenda and a link to attend the meeting via Zoom can be found at wasatch.utah.gov.

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