In fall 2015, Hill Country Alliance asked the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture to conduct a study and offer recommendations to keep the stars in the Lone Star sky truly big and bright. At the time, the population of the Hill Country was 3.4 million, which represented a 25 percent increase from 2000-10. By 2050, the population is estimated to double and then some. Those relocating to the 17-county Hill Country region look forward to such countrified amenities as clean and cold rushing streams, the close proximity of wildlife and night skies in which the Milky-Way cuts a swath among stars, planets, constellations and showers of shooting stars.
With that in mind, the Dark Skies Initiative, a campaign to reduce light pollution, was tailor-made for the Texas Hill Country. Several municipalities, including Austin, San Antonio, Blanco, Wimberley, Helotes, Horseshoe Bay, Bulverde, Boerne, Dripping Springs, – the first International Dark Sky Community in Texas – Mason, Fredericksburg and Llano, have enacted ordinances design to minimize light pollution caused by poorly designed or directed outdoor lighting… Read more from Dailytimes.com