At their February 4th meeting, the four San Bernardino County Planning Commission members present (Weldy, Stoffel, Haughey, Gongora) voted to defer any decision on the recommendation to adopt the proposed Light Trespass Ordinance. They will schedule a Workshop on the issue at a future Planning Commission meeting. Commissioners had many concerns that Land Use Services staff were unable to answer to their satisfaction. More background and links can be found in the first article of our February 1 Eblast or our January 31 News Update. 

Ten years after the start of Morongo Basin community efforts to improve the San Bernardino County lighting ordinance, the Planning Commission will hold a hearing on a revised “Light Trespass” ordinance on February 4. (Meeting details and documents can be found here.) The revision would replace the earlier “Glare and Outdoor Lighting” section of the Development Code with updated and improved language focused on light trespass. In the Land Use Services staff report you can read both the existing and proposed ordinances and additional background and context.

The Morongo Basin is now home to an international Dark Sky Park. Joshua Tree National Park achieved their long-time goal of Dark Sky Park status bestowed by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA).  This significant achievement is the result of several years of work by Park staff, providing data and receiving IDA representatives for review. 

At the April 21 Black Rock Symposium focused on "Grass Roots Activism in the Morongo Basin," panelist and MBCA Director Laraine Turk described the work of the Morongo Basin Dark Sky Alliance that operated under the County's jurisdiction from 2010-2013. MBCA Director Claudia Sall was also an active participant on the Committee, which worked with the County and local residents to provide education and work toward an improved County lighting ordinance. A PDF file of the presentation is available.

A worldwide effort to bring attention to environmental issues and climate change is represented by the act of turning off as many of your home lights as possible for one hour, between 8:30 and 9:30 PM, on Saturday, March 25.  Much more information is available on the Earth Hour website.