Regarding Chuck's comments:
Fighting light pollution in Tooele is probably a lost-cause; the area is growing very quickly and whomever tilts at that windmill will certainly be in for a fight.
Even though I may be willing to give some time to an effort, I'm inclined to believe you're correct. Salt Lake is a young area and has not yet been willing to embrace the consequences of unchecked population growth, sprawl and overdevelopment. Unfortunately this is a trait shared by many young cities. I'm afraid it will easily take another generation before people realize how much they're giving up and how cheaply they've given away a birthright. Right now, they're bedazzled by the shining lights of 'progress'.
Now SPOC has served a wonderful purpose and will continue to do so for years to come, but the writing is on the wall. In five, ten, fifteen years, it will be as if it were located in Murray and then it's planets and the moon only, and you don't need huge scopes for that.
I've only been here for a little over a year, but I agree that the handwriting is on the wall for SPOC. This is in spite of the strong support from people in Stansbury. I find that highway lights are quite distracting if I'm outside of the building. Inside, there's still an awful lot of ambient light from cars and nearby development. That's a pity, since there are some nice instruments in the observatory. But frankly, I get better performance out of my little dob somewhere else. The other night when we unveiled the new mirror, I found myself wondering how long that larger mirror might provide any advantage at SPOC. So even though I probably am more interested in outreach than Chuck is, I find that any moderate scope is sufficient for that, as long as it's near some people. But I also like to get away from the first-timers so I can see stuff for myself. I wonder what it would take to buy or lease a few acres way out in the boonies... Michael