I have a business at the end of my property which has never bothered me. Until now. They just put up lights that should be in a sports arena. How do I find out if there is an ordinance against this?

I wouldn’t speak to the business directly. I would find out about the town code and then, I’d talk to someone at the town (maybe Code Enforcement Officer) and they can discuss with you what the next steps might be. Maybe they would measure the amount of light using some meters or something. If it’s a violation, that would be handled between the town and the business.

I was recently, at Christmas, visiting some people in a lovely historic area near the water. They said that adjacent to the water, the town just put in a walkway with street lights. Apparently the street lights are LED and very bright. The people that live on the other side of the road, facing the water, were complaining that the lights are too bright, and the light is intruding into their houses. The solution the town came up with is that the lights are dimmed at around midnight so there is still light, but not blinding all night long.

Can’t add to what @jca2 said. Have you ever talked to them? Would they be open to discussion?

If you aren’t in the city limits I would think it is county regulations or ordinances that would apply.

Is the business open late at night? If they are keeping their lights on past closing, maybe you can just talk to them, and ask they turn of or reduce the amount of lights on after 9:00pm, or whatever you think is reasonable. During summer it will be light that late anyway, so maybe 9:00 is early.

I would call the county and just ask. I find local government to always be very helpful with this sort of thing. It isn’t unusual for there to be rules about light pollution. I have lived in cities with clear rules about uplighting in residential neighborhoods, and business lights only allowed near highway exits past a certain hour, all sorts of rules.

Yes @JLeslies correct. It all depends on zoning. Usually changes require notifying property owners close by.

That’s the word! Zoning.

Where I live, it is the county Code Enforcement people (not zoning). Make sure that they visit at night.

Please keep us updated. It must be miserable for you.

Call the city and county about zoning ordinances.

Go take a look at how they screen stadium lights at high schools in residential areas. Whether or not you have zoning on your side, you could ask them to put up those kind of screens.

Not trying to make light of your situation, but this reminds of the episode when Kramer sees the blinding red light from Kenny Roger’s Roasters in his Apartment

Any luck?

Not yet. I got shuffled around on the phone and then “disconnected”.

@chyna: You called the town or the business?

@chyna Planning Board or code enforcement might be other terms to use when talking to the county.

Sheeet.
Hang in there.

I got in touch with a lady in the Planning Board. She said this is a zoned area and it is not allowed. She will look into it for me and asked that I email her the complaint and pictures. She was the nicest, most helpful and sympathetic person, and if she isn’t able to do anything, at least she was nice. Thank you all for the help in guiding me to where I should at least start.

That’s great! Thanks for the update.

@chyna I’m actually really glad this came up, because we have to vote on a sign (re-zoning) in a residential area next council. For a church to put up a big lit cross between two homes- about a hundred yards on either side of the sign/ cross.

How many people drive down the Interstate looking for a church though really? haha

Great great news!!!

@KNOWITALL Bellevue Baptist church in Cordova, TN has triple crosses 150 feet tall adjacent to I40, just one exit down from my exit when I lived there. I don’t know how late at night they are lit? That exit was a very commercial area though, so there was a lot of light pollution anyway. You can see them here just 10 seconds into the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEjNGzy7v-4

So as a follow up: Nothing has been done about the light situation so I called the planning board. They talked to the business and gave them until 4/30 to comply. Apparently the lady at the business was mad and indignant that the neighbors complained. Of course she gets to go home at night and not deal with the lights from the next Apollo launching pad.

Thanks for the update, and it’s great to see the encouraging news.

I’m really looking forward to browsing this thread on 5/1.

When I first read your question, I thought “Why is @chyna complaining about her own business, and why did she put it right next to her house?”. But then I read the details. ;-p

@chyna Keep on them, they should have had to notify all neighbors of any zoning change and if it’s illegal, the business should have checked on that before purchasing it. She’s probably mad they’ll have to replace it, at their expense, according to zoning rules.

@Brian1946 Upon re-reading my question, it was horribly written. Thanks for wading through and getting what I meant.

Well??

Update is right above Brian’s comment.

The have until the end of this month. Have they taken care of it?

Not yet.

Update May 1. Nothing has been resolved. I called the planning commission and they contacted an engineer to measure the light distance. It’s only allowed to spill off of their property about a foot. It is spilling onto the neighbors across from the business which is more than a football field away. More to come.

@chyna You may want to ask if you are able to file an official complaint. They usually take those more seriously and if you can get other neighbors to do the same thing, there is strength in numbers when it comes to ‘official business’.... Good luck

Cheese and rice…

Well? It’s now May 29th. Any resolution here? Have they toned down their lightshow?

Nope. I am to call the county back on June 2. She promised it would be taken care of then. We will see.

I’ll come by and kick a shin or two for you.

@canidmajor If it’s against code and it’s not down, she can sue the county as well as the business, and more than likely win.

^Thanks! If it’s not down by June 2, I’ll call a lawyer.

Remember to collect for court costs and your lawyer.

@KNOWITALL, yeah, I know that. Efficient shin-kicking should expedite the process.

@canidmajor In govt? The more people who complain, the more they worry, that’s their votes next election. haha

One more idea to push them—are there several homes affected by this? If your town or county has a monthly meeting you could show up with a group of people. You might be able to get it on the agenda, or if they have time for questions at the end just bring it up then. My town in TN was very effective at this sort of thing. Sometimes too effective. The citizens in my town cared a lot about the residential and rural areas not getting impeded on by commercial. They would leave flyers at houses that were affected reminding us about the meeting and to show up. There also was an email list I was on.

It was a joke.

May 30, 2019—The lights are fixed! They aimed them down on their own property.
Yay!

@chyna Yay!!!!

Oh, yay! S9 glad you didn’t have to pursue this further.

Me too! I don’t like being a poop head

Excellent! You did it.

Hooray!!!