Novi to Crack Down on Bright Residential Lights

Novi residents with bright lights on their homes may soon be asked to shut them off.

The Novi City Council is looking to add a section to the city’s nuisance lighting ordinance that would regulate light levels on residences that bother adjacent homes. The current ordinance only includes standards for exterior lighting on commercial properties.

The new section would spell out allowable lighting levels at property lines and shielding requirements for properties throughout the city on homes and residences.

According to the city council action item, the ordinance is looking to be added in response to recent citizen concerns.

Novi Mayor Bob Gatt said he met with one Novi resident who showed him videos of her neighbor shining spotlights into her bedroom at all hours of the day, and the city couldn't do anything about it.

“I don’t like regulations that prohibit our citizens from being free, but I don’t like our citizens that infringe on my rights either,” Gatt said.

Council asks for clearer language

The City Council approved the first reading of the ordinance at its meeting Monday night. The council asked city staff to clarify some of the language in the ordinance, as well as look at what nearby cities do, before bringing the ordinance back to them for a second reading at a future meeting.

The first reading of ordinance states that it is unlawful within the city to “have or cause exterior or interior lighting that interferes with the vision or comfort of persons on public streets or in residential districts or uses.”

Mayor Pro-tem Dave Staudt said he couldn’t disagree more with the ordinance. He also said that the sentence in the ordinance that talks about comfort is too subjective.

“Who in the heck is going to interpret this stuff?” he said.

Gatt said paid professionals like police officers and the court of law will determine if the lighting complaint is valid or not.

Still, several members of the council agreed the language needs some more clarity.

Council member Wayne Wrobel and Staudt voted against the first reading of the ordinance. Staudt said he thinks it will cause problems in the community. 

“This type of ordinance is going to pin homeowner against homeowner,” he said.

He said that the city has survived without the ordinance so far and that it’s a good thing the law is not on the books, stating that it is useless.

Council member Andrew Mutch disagreed and said there was a need for the ordinance.

“You make noise past the time limit spelled out in our ordinance, the police are going to show up at your house and possibly write you a ticket, and why we would allow somebody to shine lights into their neighbor's house and intrude on their property in the same way, I don’t know why we wouldn’t prevent that,” Mutch said.

Council member Justin Fischer agreed, stating that the council does two readings of ordinances so they can clarify the language before passing the law, like they are doing in this case.

“People have the right to do what they want on their own property, in my own opinion, as long as it doesn’t interfere with what other people want to do on their property,” Fischer said.