Background:
We purchased this home over a decade ago. The backyard is adjacent to a storage facility which actually makes for an attractive and functional back wall with no neighbors behind us. Before we tendered an offer, we checked the storage facility's original building approval/restrictions, and visited the home at night to see what their facility lighting was like. While not perfect, the baffling of the pole mounted yellow sodium lamps was sufficient, and the back yard was dark for the suburbs, with no direct glare.
The facility has been great as neighbors, but there have been a few hiccups. One was a fire in a unit along the wall near ours, but more problematic was when they replaced one of the shielded/baffled boxes with a flat LED panel a few years ago. It was on the opposite end of the facility, but shined directly at us, and lit me up when I walked upstairs the first night it was on. The next day I went into the office with their approvals/restrictions in hand, and a copy of the city code addressing it: "lights shall be placed to deflect light away from adjacent properties and public streets, and to prevent adverse interference with the normal operation or enjoyment of surrounding properties. Direct or sky-reflected glare from floodlights shall not be directed into any other property or street. Except for public street lights and stadium lights, no light, combination of lights, or activity shall cast light onto a residentially zoned property, or any property containing residential uses, exceeding one-half foot-candle."
I showed the resident manager where the offending light was, and it was turned off. I made it clear that I did not object to the existing lighting or to them updating, but the new lighting, absent a proper shroud, was not going to work. Unfortunately for them, their old fixtures have been slowly failing, so I was expecting another round of this someday.
Present Day:
About 6 weeks ago, I noticed they were removing a number of the old fixtures and installing new LED panels--entirely unshielded although technically "full cut off". The lights went on that night and the ones across the way were lighting us up again. So I went into the office again to explain that wasn't going to work, and that they needed to be down directed with shrouds. The resident managers understood, but the lighting is done by the regional company and contractors. We also asked the city if the business had permits for the new lighting. The lights were promptly shut off again and we heard some back-channel about how they intended to restore the old fixtures--which would have been fine as a solution.
Then within a week I saw a contractor working on the new fixtures again, turning the panels straight down. Oh crap. That's going to be even worse because the high pole of one of the lights that formerly shined away from me is right behind my yard. Again, not a single shroud or hint of a shroud anywhere in the new panels. The lights went on that night and our yard and home were lit up like a prison yard in the back, from multiple lights. It was full color in the backyard, bright end of the mesopic range on the meter when pointed at the sidewalk. Easy to read a book out there. I couldn't even see the shadow of the roof cast by the Full Moon--the lighting completely obliterated what was formerly a prominent shadow.
So my only recourse was to file an official code violation complaint with the city, which I had hoped to avoid doing. I also organized my neighbors, who were similarly impacted and irked about the change. It was over a week before we got a response from the city, but they scheduled a night team to come out to investigate. Once they saw what was happening from the back yard, Code sent the business a notice of violation and a week or so to address the problem. After a week, the lights went off again. I was just hoping that eventually we would get a properly shrouded solution--a win-win...or at least no loser.
Some time during this, the business' management viewed their historic surveillance video and decided the new lighting was far brighter than intended, and they don't want neighbors complaining about it. Furthermore, they concluded that other than in foggy months, they really don't need the lights at all. They then removed ALL of the new lights from the poles. As of this writing ALL of the pole lights are off, including the old ones. They said they might use the old ones during foggy weather (winter) but they have no plans for new lighting.
Pinch me, I must be dreaming...no, don't pinch me, let me rest and enjoy this. It has taken some time, and part of the result was entirely unintentional, but somehow we were actually able to vastly improve the lighting situation behind our home from when we moved in.
Edited by Redbetter, 13 June 2025 - 04:22 AM.
