Commission discusses Kayenta night-sky overlay, asks group to redraw boundary and clarify ordinance language

The Ivins Planning Commission on June 3 discussed a proposal from the Ivins Night Sky group and property owners to create a lighting-ordinance overlay for the Kayenta area, asking staff and the petitioners to redraw the overlay boundary and to return with a consistent, redlined ordinance for further review.

Petitioner Kai Reed, president of Ivins Night Sky, explained the overlay would apply to primarily Terry Martin’s property and some neighboring parcels in Kayenta and that the initial map included a portion outside city boundaries that should be removed. Reed said, “If you're only concerned about that 1 little triangle on that side of 91 I actually, in my original map that I presented to the city council a year ago, did not include that.” She asked the commission to keep the overlay limited to property that is within the city.

Staff and commissioners discussed several technical and enforcement points. A staff presenter explained the overlay would use Ivins’ ordinance as the base and tweak standards to match Kayenta’s existing rules; commissioners raised two recurring concerns: (1) map accuracy and whether the proposed boundary encroached on land outside city limits and (2) inconsistent draft language about allowable hours for outdoor recreational lighting (the draft contained both "11" and "10" as cutoff times in different sections). Commissioner Clifford said the map “lacks information” for parcel-level clarity and asked for clearer maps and parcel labels. Tim Pavlik, who the packet identified as a board member who prepared the draft, said the draft used a 10:00 p.m. baseline with a one-hour allowance for active sporting events, explaining, “the 10:00 is just kind of a placeholder. But if things go on later, then it can go further.”

Petitioners and several commissioners emphasized the difference between an enforceable city lighting ordinance and the voluntary International Dark Sky designation: Reed said, “the city ordinance is enforceable, and the dark sky is not. If we get so much light pollution encroaching ... we just lose the designation.” Commissioners also discussed enforcement and measurement challenges for adjoining areas that would remain outside the overlay.

The commission directed staff to have the petitioners redraw the boundary along Highway 91 so that the overlay only includes Ivins parcels intended for inclusion and to return with a clarified, internally consistent redline of the overlay language. Staff said the overlay could move forward more quickly than a wholesale rewrite of the city lighting ordinance, and commissioners agreed to review the overlay first and then take up a larger ordinance update in a separate, longer process.

Next steps: staff will receive the corrected map and a clear redline that resolves the 10/11 p.m. inconsistency and will bring the revised overlay back to the commission for a public hearing. Petitioners and staff also discussed later pursuit of an International Dark Sky application once local ordinance alignment is in place.