By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Brandon Twp. — During the regular meeting on Monday night, the Brandon Township board of trustees unanimously approved a first reading of an amendment to the code of ordinances, chapter 46, in regards to glare and exterior lighting. The revision comes from a dispute between residents of the township.
“It was a light somebody had on their house to spite the neighbors, and it was glaring all the way through the neighbor’s yard and across the street,” said Township Supervisor Jayson Rumball.
The revised ordinance addresses commercial, industrial and residential exterior lighting and glare. Residential lighting states that all lighting shall be aimed, located, designed, fitted and maintained so as not to create a hazard or a nuisance to driver, pedestrians or neighboring uses and properties. It also states that the maximum lighting level projected onto a residentially zoned or used property shall be .1 foot candles, and the color temperature is not to exceed 3,500 Kelvin, excluding neon luminous tubes and architectural accent lighting.
The ordinance revision comes on recommendation from the planning commission.
“I drove by there, and I see what they’re talking about,” said Steve Unruh, board trustee and planning commissioner. “If you think a porch light that’s misaligned and coming in, and it’s just a regular light you got from Home Depot, is bothersome. Imagine when you went over to this place and they had like the Bat Signal just to light it up.”
The ordinance will come back to the township for a second reading in October. The full ordinance amendment can be read in the board packet on the Brandon Township website.
“Apparently we’re not the only municipality that has this problem,” said Unruh. “We don’t want to be using our township as a marker for when the international space station goes by.”