Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutRe: neighbor/lighting fi 70 pi.). City of Orono November 29,2005 `` Y. 2750 Kelly Parkway Orono,MN 55356 Dear Michael Gaffron, I would appreciate assistance from the City of Orono in a disagreement with my next door neighbor over lighting at her home. The property that is the subject of this disagreement is 2811 Casco Point Road, in the City of Orono,owned by Theresa Norsted. Our home is on Lake Minnetonka with many windows facing the lake and many windows facing the subject property. The owner has a large steel-looking structure in her yard close to the bluff overlooking the lake,to which she has added hundreds of lights which light up the inside of our home with an irritating glare. It needs to be stressed that when we are almost anywhere in our home all that we can see are hundreds of unshielded incandescent filaments on this large steel structure,and there is no way to avoid the irritating glare that these lights produce throughout our home. This is not a birdbath sized structure—my best guess is that it is 15 to 20 feet across and 15 to 20 feet high. We sometimes lay awake in bed for hours because our master bedroom is lit up brightly by these lights. We did not purchase a home in Orono on Lake Minnetonka to be confronted with a neighbor's lights ruining our quality of life at night—the only relief we can get from this irritating glare is to retreat to our basement! Another issue is on the street side of her home, where there are bright lights on a post that are on all night every night with no glare protection for her neighbors. Without these lights we could safely negotiate our walkway,but with them on we can only see the glare from her lights on the post. We cannot see where we are walking due to the glare from the unshielded incandescent filaments. These lights also light up the inside of our home brightly from a different angle than the lakeside lights,which makes it impossible to hide from their irritating glare,except to retreat to our basement. If an Orono representative comes out to inspect these lights at night,please keep in mind that currently these lights on the post are not burning at full brightness—there appears to be one or more bulbs burned out at this time. She also runs dozens of lights at the water's edge which likely irritate our neighbors across the lake and will lead to those neighbors adding more light to their lakesides,which will further increase irritation and light pollution around the lake. I had two visits with Orono representatives to seek help on this problem. They both strongly suggested that I make an attempt to get the neighbor to correct her lighting before the city got involved. Based on these requests from the city,I asked her nicely both verbally and in writing to turn these lights off or shield our home from their direct light,but these lights continue to be a problem. After I made these requests to her,but before I made a formal complaint to the city, she states that she got a City of Orono representative to tell her that"there was no violation with either the local city ordinance or the applicable state statute". This statement is in direct conflict with the discussions that I had earlier with Orono representatives that there certainly appeared to be a violation,but the City wanted me to try to reach an amicable solution to this problem before the City got involved. - wa //usf. St_'P /Ai 7 F/L — 416F Ma6 6 ;z) S/7 ;, Aior ,01 y/OG fr' SU&'t11*e `f `' 70 oiLT: Ps 0 Nom, . , be cA IF 11s A VI ot.A4 s . 1F-so)-- /F OttelS 1 ? In my reading of Section 78-1573. "Glare or heat", with heat and intense heat removed, it reads"light transmission shall be performed with the necessary shielding to prevent such light from being detectable at the lot line of the site on which the use is located" It also reads"Lighting in all instances shall be diffused or directed away from R districts and public streets". What this section states is all that we are asking—either turn these lights off,or shield them from being detectable at the lot line. There are no other problem lights in this neighborhood because our other neighbors do what the regulations require and what is respectful and courteous. With the exception of this one property,our neighborhood is very nicely lit without excessive light or glare. Please handle this as a formal complaint and a request for assistance from the City of Orono with this problem. These lights have substantially taken away our enjoyment of our home at night. We cannot enjoy looking at a starry sky,or looking out at the lake,or sleeping in a dark bedroom,because the only thing we see out our windows are hundreds of incandescent bulbs glaring back at us. Our request has always been that these lights be kept off or their"light transmission shall be performed with the necessary shielding to prevent such light from being detectable at the lot line of the site on which the use is located". It seems to me that Section 78-1573 supports my request. Even though I have described how these lights destroy our quality of life at night in our home, I would be amenable to a compromise with this homeowner. If she would agree to turn off all of the lakeside lights(both steel structure and water's edge)at a reasonable time, say 2 hours after sunset but not later than 9:00 pm, and install a shield on the street- side lights that would keep our home and property from being hit directly by these lights, I would drop this formal complaint and request for assistance from the City of Orono. Thank you in advance for your assistance, Charles Price 2813 Casco Point Road Wayzata,MN 55391 Phone: 952-471-3220 n T+E; G - fHaf/e I — 832 --.3'/ -/0.r.0 Two attachments: Oct 3, 2005 request to Norsted;Nov 15, 2005 response from Norsted October 3, 2005 Dear Mrs. Norsted, The outdoor lights that you operate fill the inside of our home from many directions so that it is impossible to hide from their irritating glare. I left a message to this effect on your answering machine a few weeks ago, but this is my first written request. It would be helpful if the following actions were taken to alleviate this problem. On the street side of your house, please shield the yard light that you leave on all night every night so that the light it emits does not light up our home or property. Alternately, if you prefer, you could operate this light from a switch and turn it on only as needed. On the lake side of your house, please keep the hundreds of lights that are mounted on the large steel structure turned off at night. Alternately, if you prefer, you could shield these lights so that the light they emit does not light up our home or property Out of courtesy to our neighbors across the lake, please keep the dozens of lights at the lake shore turned off, except when you are using them. Feel free to call me at 952-471-3220 if you have any questions. Thank you for your consideration in this matter, Charles Price CASCARANO LAW OFFICE Sieepoaormt.. SUITE 3260 150 SOUTH FIFTH STREET MINNEAPOLIS,MINNESOTA 55402 CRAIG E.CASCARANO (612)333-6603 FAX(612) 333-5015 November 15,2005 Charles and Carol Price 2813 Casco Point Road Orono, MN 55391 Dear Mr.and Mrs. Price: Please be advised that I have been retained to represent Ms. Theresa A. Norsted in any and all disputes emanating from your letter dated October 3, 2005. Accordingly, all further correspondence should be sent to my office and not Ms. Norsted's residence. The local ordinance and statutes surrounding lighting of residential properties do not prohibit Ms.Norsted from maintaining the current lighting at her residence. In fact, the Department of Inspections for the City of Orono inspected the residence and stated there was no violation with either the local City ordinance or the applicable State statute. Therefore, it appears as though your requests in the October 3, 2005 letter are not only unreasonable,but unfounded. As of this date,you are on formal notice that Ms. Norsted does not wish you to enter upon her property and will regard any said action as a trespass. Again, if you have any further questions please contact my office and not Ms.Norsted. Cordially, Craig ascarano