Absentee neighbors new street lights

[MarkF48]

As RoyJackson pointed out above, if the lights are presumably for a private residence, why is the towns municipal power and light company maintaining them? Are the lights located on the private property or are they on a public or town owned street or right of way. I don't know if a muni can work a deal with a homeowner to provide lighting, but it maybe is possible.
It's been a bunch of years since I worked for National Grid, but I sort of recall that Mass Electric used to provide shields for street lights if the lighting was intrusive to a nearby home owner.
Might be worth the effort to submit a letter to the town selectmen.

Perhaps some help in the future for MA light pollution....
In face of sprawling light pollution, more suburbs considering ‘dark skies’ ordinance - South - The Boston Globe

 

[dave1949]

The difference is that the light doesn't stop on the owners property and affects the OP. If the logging caused erosion and massive amounts of mud coming onto the OP's land it would be a similar situation. Still "shooting the loggers" would not be appropriate.

Seems to many people have more bullets than brains.

I think you missed the point. Or maybe I missed Walkin Horse's point: which I took to mean the neighbor has the right to put up lights that affect more than his own property just like they have the right to log their own property if that changes a neighbors view--as in ShowRoomShine's thread example.

If a neighbor cuts the trees on their own land, that is not the same as cutting trees on your land. If the neighbor's light shines on his land AND on other's land that is not the same as cutting trees or lighting only on his own land. I will leave out hypothetical results like erosion, because there is nothing hypothetical about the neighbor's light shining in your window--it's a current and actual fact. Hypothetical and actual fact are apples and oranges.

IMO property rights do, or should, include the ability to stop easily preventable intrusions from a neighbor's lights just as you would stop their dog from intruding on your land if it bothered you. There is simply no way to justify lighting up someone else's land if they object to that. I think that is pretty straightforward no matter how complicated it appears to be to some.

As to remedies, I don't doubt for a second that I would shoot the light out if it made me mad enough and sensible attempts to protect my property from unwanted intrusion had failed. I wouldn't shoot the neighbor's dog unless it was vicious or causing actual harm. Light bulbs are inanimate objects loved by and cared for by no one and easy to replace.

 

[oldballs]

Dave, I hate your discussions. They are so logical.

 

[phiferpharm]

As RoyJackson pointed out above, if the lights are presumably for a private residence, why is the towns municipal power and light company maintaining them? Are the lights located on the private property or are they on a public or town owned street or right of way.

Not so odd where I live. The power company asks you if you want a light and they do come out for repairs or if the motion detector goes out. My light has a motion detector, the closest neighbor who is maybe 400' or so away from my main house only has theirs set up with a dusk to dawn light.

 

[Walkin Horse]

Even though I may have been drunk at the time, I think my point was this.
In one thread a poster ask what could be done with legal means to clean up a property after it was logged. I don't think he has any intention of doing anything wrong. He even points out that he doesn't want to be a bad neighbor. Every body jumped his butt assuming that he wanted to stop everything. I didn't see anything like that in his question.

Then you have this thread where the OP admits to trespassing and tampering with somebody else's property. Then people recommend that he shoot the light out and all theses other crazy ideas. You people confuse the k out of me.

Someone told Showroom to take a picture of it and put it on his window. That would make a good nite shade for the bedroom.

 

[zing]

Not so odd where I live. The power company asks you if you want a light and they do come out for repairs or if the motion detector goes out. My light has a motion detector, the closest neighbor who is maybe 400' or so away from my main house only has theirs set up with a dusk to dawn light.

Sort of the same around here. In rural areas you can pay the power company $20 per month and they will put a street light on any pole located near your property. It will be on from dusk til dawn and power company will maintain/replace it as needed.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Not so odd where I live. The power company asks you if you want a light and they do come out for repairs or if the motion detector goes out. My light has a motion detector, the closest neighbor who is maybe 400' or so away from my main house only has theirs set up with a dusk to dawn light.

So I am understanding what you are saying, are you saying that the power company that serves you provides you with a rental streetlight that is set up on a motion detector and not a dusk to dawn photocell?

 

[phiferpharm]

So I am understanding what you are saying, are you saying that the power company that serves you provides you with a rental streetlight that is set up on a motion detector and not a dusk to dawn photocell?

Not sure about the rental part, mine is set up with a motion detector and as far as I can tell. I only pay for the electric it uses.

 

[dave1949]

I know the town pays for any streetlights on a roadway here. It's in the annual budget. I think to have a streetlight added on the road would require getting the town to sign off on that, which they might do for a traffic safety issue.

The utility will put a light on any pole set in their right-of-way on my land for a monthly charge. Not sure if choosing motion detect or dusk to dawn is an option.

I am not allowed to put my own light on their poles. If I wanted a yard light I own and could control with a switch or whatever, I would need my own pole or mount it on a building.

 

[dodge man]

I like the idea of getting some better window shades. Maybe I'm alone here, but it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. It would annoy me some but be honest, do the lights annoy you or is it more of the general rundown look of the property.