Homer Glen is now an International Dark Sky Community, the third such community in the United States.

Trustee Margaret Sabo announced at last week’s Village Board meeting that she was notified that day that the village had been approved as an International Dark Sky Community (IDSC) by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA).

The IDSC designation, conceived in 2001, is defined as a community that “has shown exceptional dedication to the preservation of the night sky through implementation and enforcement of quality lighting codes, dark sky education, and citizen support of dark skies,” according to the IDA’s website.

Homer Glen is the first community east of the Mississippi River to receive an IDSC designation, Sabo said. The IDA’s website lists Flagstaff, Ariz., and Borrego Springs, Calif., as the two other IDSC communities in the United States.

While the village will use light “efficiently,” being an IDSC “does not restrict development,” Sabo said.

Light pollution interferes with star gazing, astronomy, ecosystems and human circadian rhythms, while wasting $2.2 billion in energy annually in the United States, according to the IDA’s website.