The wheels are in motion to put some shade on nuisance lighting in Campbell River.
City council gave the first two readings to a nuisance bylaw amendment Thursday night (Jan. 9) that would require shades for certain outdoor lights in residential areas.
It would require homeowners with floodlights, spotlights and directional lighting to keep the light from spilling beyond their property line.
For lantern-style lights, they would be limited to 200 watts or 3,000 lumens.
While he supports it, Mayor Kermit Dahl says this issue has been a waste of time.
“We had a one-off, which was being done intentionally, and we’ve spent a lot of time, staff time, council’s time, simply because somebody wouldn’t turn off one switch in one house in the last six years. I think it’s insane that we have our time used up by something so trivial,” Dahl stated.
Councillor Ben Lanyon supports the idea of having a tool to address complaints.
“My psychology here is, I know it was an isolated incident, raised the issue of perhaps neighbour disputes ongoing for years without resolution. So I would certainly love to have bylaw obtain a tool to help reduce those kinds of frictions within the community,” Lanyon said.
The issue came to council a year ago after Jasmine Crescent resident Paula Bourque complained her neighbour was deliberately aiming a 40,000 lumen floodlight at her home.
Once it’s passed, the fine for nuisance lighting would be $250.
Bylaw Services Manager Karl Read told Lanyon complaints about lighting are “quite rare” with the city receiving five or fewer calls in any given year.
