A group of citizens has told the Town Council it believes the town did not get what it ordered with the walkway lighting in Fountain Park.

Donna Brinkmeyer led a group of a dozen or so residents at the March 3 council meeting with three addressing the council during its call to the public segment.

“I do not oppose the lighted walkway in the park,” Brinkmeyer said.

“Neither do any of those accompanying me here this evening. Quite the opposite.

“Appropriate lighting would greatly enhance the pleasure and safety of those enjoying the park after dark. But the uplight and glare produced by the bollards is not appropriate.”

Brinkmeyer said the bollards shine a glare of light into the eyes of those walking as well as those driving near the park. She said they are also destroying the view of the night sky.

The town did not set out to intentionally select pathway lights that produced the upward light and glare, Brinkmeyer said. She noted that town personnel even sought assurances that the bollards met with International Dark Sky Association Standards.

“But the town did not get what it was sold,” Brinkmeyer said.

“The lighting designer sold the town lights that did not match the published specifications on which everyone relied.”

Ted Blank, a founder of the Fountain Hills Astronomy Club and a member of the Dark Skies Committee, told the council that staff specified fully shielded lighting.

“Fully shielded simply means light that illuminates the path without shining or reflecting from the fixture directly into the eyes of people walking or onto neighboring homes,” Blank said.

“This is the kind of light (the town) ordered, but it is not what we got.”

Blank said the manufacturers published specifications for the lights describe them as “full cutoff,” “zero up-light,” and “nighttime friendly.”

This means that no significant amount of light, direct or reflected, will be emitted from the fixtures above horizontal, according to Blank.

The manufacturer acknowledges that the testing done to make measurements for the specifications was done on fixtures finished in black, Blank said. They made no attempt to inform the town that the measurements would be greater with the reflective finish that was installed.

A lighting engineer based in Tucson reviewed the material and told Blank in an email that the published test data for the light fixtures “have no credibility whatsoever,” with regard to light emissions.

“The reflected glare from these bollards now reduces safety rather than enhancing it,” Blank said.

“I urge the council to demand that the companies hired to design the park lighting be held responsible for replacing every one of these bollards with truly ‘full cutoff’ fixtures that send no light away from the path in any direction, and to do so without any further cost to the town.”

The council listened to the comments about the lights from Brinkmeyer and Blank. However, the presentation was made during call-to-the-public with the item not specified for the council agenda, therefore the council could make not comment or have any follow-up discussion on the issue.

The item may be on the agenda for council discussion and direction to staff at a future meeting.