Telescope Reviews: "There is NOTHING that can be done..."

Our by laws were written in 1978. The regulations regarding light and noise pollution stated that "No obnoxious light, noise glare or vibration shall be used " (insert any zone you want). I and other planners have consistently taken property owners to court over noise and light pollution. Every one of our cases was thrown out of court. The last case was not only thrown out of court, the judge said that we were wasting his time and that we (the city) was using blatant abuse of power against the property owners. We even had independent reports from noise and light engineers about the extreme amount of light, glare and noise and the judge hated this). This property was in a residential zone.

When we went back to legal services they told us that the real problem was the word "obnoxious" as it will not stand up in court. So we went back to our department and legal services to ask if we could remove the word "obnoxious" with something that would stand up in court. We were told no. It was explained to us that our department would not change the by law because of a "small group of complainers" so end of story, or so I thought.
Then in 2003 a hurricane ripped through the province and we lost power for 5 days. When the people finally realized that the world was not coming to an end and crime was not rampant because there was no light, they started to call our office about the by laws. The majority of people had became desensitized to the light pollution and without the light I think they became aware of how bad it really was. I know of quite a few people who had taken their kids outside to look at the stars and in some cases it was the first time the kids and their parents saw the milky way. As a result that "small group of complainers" turned into a fairly large group calling the office. Myself and a few other planners were given the ok by our dept and legal services to write a secondary plan dealing with light pollution (only on a small scale). If the residents did not band together and call, we would still be dealing with a by law from 1978 and none of the changes would have occured. there is an old saying "it takes a village to raise a child" well it takes a village to change a by law.

I am not saying that the planning office is "the end all" I am fully aware that gov departments are closed minded and will dig their their heels in at the slightest bit of change but the more citizens that band together and call gives more power to the planners so they can write the by laws.

I am sorry if I am ranting but I am passionate about this stuff and I will not stop until I can get a by law that works and it is able to standup in court