The Central Otago District Council has called for public submissions on a proposed district plan amendment which would be the last requirement for Naseby to achieve International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) community accreditation.
Naseby Vision member and former chairwoman Jill Wolff said they had been working towards accreditation since 2016.
Street lights in the town already met the required rating and nothing in the town would change, she said.
"You won’t see any changes at all.
"It’s really only if someone came along and decided they wanted to put a spotlight in their backyard or something and no-one has in the last 50 years.
"There’s no impact."
It was about protecting the town for the future, she said.
"It’s a precaution for the future, future-proofing that International Dark-Sky insist on having before they give you accreditation."
They know the town currently complies, but it was to make sure it stayed that way, she said.
If successful, Naseby’s community accreditation would be the first of its type in New Zealand and second in the southern hemisphere after Nuie.
It would differ from other IDA accreditations in New Zealand, which were for "reserve" and "sanctuary" areas that did not have urban development.
In December last year, the Central Otago District Council was presented with a proposed plan change to bring a new chapter to the district plan around dark skies.
At the time, consultation and engagement with consultancy Aukaha on behalf of Kāi Tahu was still in progress and the council held off making a decision until there had been input from mana whenua.
Once that was concluded and cultural context had been added, along with a few adjustments to assessment matters, it was referred back to the council in June.
It took a matter of moments for councillors to approve notification of plan change 22, which would see provisions in the district plan to protect the quality of Naseby’s dark skies through the establishment of lighting codes, local monitoring of compliant outdoor lighting codes, and increasing awareness of light pollution.
These would come into effect when new development in the area was proposed.
Submissions close on November 10.
