Previous FixTheMLO Postings
(Information culled from previous versions of our position statements, assessments, and petitions. Not all links and information are still valid.)
June 2010 MLO Draft
In June 2010, the International Dark-Sky Association released another draft of its proposed Model Lighting Ordinance. If you haven’t already seen it, there are links to the draft and associated documents on the IDA website at:
http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=84399&orgId=idsa
(Note that the IDA is already running seminars on the MLO even though the Board has not decided whether to adopt it!)
The latest draft includes a new User’s Guide that is also subject to comment. IDA is receiving public comment on this draft until August 23, 2010. We urge you to take the time to provide your comments on this new draft MLO.
Our assessment
The MLO has been considered by an Ad Hoc Review Committee that spent seven weeks analyzing and debating the latest draft. The Committee is a broadly based group with diverse backgrounds, and its members represent, cumulatively, decades of experience working on dark-sky legislation.
The Committee regretfully finds that this new draft will not fulfill the IDA's mission to reduce the prevalence or impact of light pollution. A number of serious, fundamental problems have not yet been corrected, and we find the draft flawed in many ways. It needs substantial revision to be an effective catalyst for change.
Click here to read the Committee’s conclusions.
Submit your comments
We urge you to participate in the public comment process.
You are welcome to use any or all of the Committee’s findings for your own comment submission. If you wish to adopt the full Committee report, you may simply say in your comment form something like “I support the findings of the 2010 Ad Hoc Review Committee.” If you wish to adopt only portions of the Committee report, make sure that your additions/deletions are clearly identified for the comment reader.
Regardless of what form your comments take, be sure to submit them according to IDA’s precise instructions no later than August 23rd.
(Members of the Ad Hoc Review Committee)
About FixTheMLO
The FixTheMLO group and this web site were formed in response to the International Dark-Sky Association's release of the first public draft of their proposed model lighting ordinance (MLO). The FixTheMLO group feels that the first draft was severely flawed in many ways.
We created the online petition on this site to gather and demonstrate support for our position. We collected over 190 signatures in a few short weeks. In fact, over a third of U.S. IDA section leaders signed the petition or this group's earlier letter to the IDA Board of Directors.
MLO Review Committee
On the weekend of January 15-16, members of the MLO Review Committee met in Tucson, AZ to review the input the IDA received about the first draft. Leo Smith was invited by IDA to join that meeting to represent the FixTheMLO group.
After two days discussing both "big picture" issues and individual comments from reviewers, we are happy to report that the IDA has agreed to incorporate some changes suggested by the FixTheMLO group. Naturally, we await final revised document, as only it can reveal how satisfactory and complete those changes are.
Looking Forward
The IDA has pledged to post minutes from the meeting on their web site, along with all the reviewer's comments by Friday, January 21. A new draft of the MLO is planned for the end of the month.
Everyone involved with the FixTheMLO group truly supports the IDA's mission to preserve and restore dark night skies. While we couldn't support the MLO 2004.1 draft, we greatly appreciate the approved changes and consider them to be outstanding progress toward developing a more effective document.