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If the mobile flood light trailers (see sample photo) currently deployed at Glen School, Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Vets Field, Citizens Park, and Somerville School are being used in violation of all or some of the below listed Village of Ridgewood codes.
The trailers are stenciled “property of Maroons Soccer Club.” Are the Maroons exempt from all zoning regulations? Lighting in general: 194-2. Nuisance prohibited; shielding of light. [Amended 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 2375] No artificial source of light shall be constructed or utilized within the residential districts of the Village of Ridgewood as to create a nuisance across property lot lines. All such exposed sources of light shall be shielded so that the illumination of any kind there from, whether from interior or exterior sources, shall not exceed one foot-candle at any point along any property lot line in the residential zones of the Village.
Light trailers in Vets Field: 212-3. Booths and wagons. It shall be unlawful for any person to place or erect any booth, stand or other structure or to place any wagon or other vehicle, except such as may be propelled by hand and adapted for the carrying of children, invalids or dolls, on or in any public park of the Village without the written permission of the Shade Tree Commission.
Noise from generators in light trailers: 201-1. Prohibited acts. A. The making, creating or permitting of any unreasonable and unnecessary loud or disturbing noise in the Village of Ridgewood is hereby prohibited.
B. The type of noise intended to be prohibited is noise of such character, intensity or duration as to be detrimental to the life, health or welfare of any individual or which steadily or intermittently annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, peace or safety of any individual.
C. The trier of fact in any prosecution brought under this section shall apply the standards and principles of common-law nuisance in determining whether the noise is unreasonable and unnecessary.
>The fly on the wall wonders . . .
6 thoughts on “>The fly on the wall wonders . . .”
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>So is there any reason now to wonder why the taxpayers who live near Hawes School (or as Bob Hutton likes to say: “those people”) don’t want these friggin’ things in their back yards?
>The solution to the “noise and light pollution issue” is to eliminate portable generation light systems. These are are low tech lighting systems, intended to “flood” a CONSTRUCTION SITE with light. By design, they fill the surrounding area with light. Aside from the poor design of the actual lamps (for Ridgewood’s intended application), the height of the lights is limited, forcing the lamps to be directed at horizontal angles that magnify the problem known as “obtrusive light pollution” for surrounding neighbors.
The answer is to agree on a field or two where properly designed and permanently installed lights would have little or no impact on residents’ homes. This should be part of the Master Field Recommendation. Part of the recommendations might also be to plant full growth “screening trees” to the sites, if necessary. There are a number of high-tech lighting solutions available to address our specific needs. The advantages of these syestems are TOTAL elimination of generator noise and dramatic reduction in obtrusive light overspill, beyond the fields. This is due to the designs with baffles, which direct the light and result in more efficient energy use. Permanent lights can also be positioned higher than portable lights, which allows the light to be directed downward, not horizontally. A discussion of this can be found at the link below.
https://www.lighting4sport.com/lightcontrol.htm
Recommendations for lighting requirements and reference for questions and answers can be found at these links:
https://www.lighting4sport.com/lightinglevels1.htm.
https://www.lighting4sport.com/faq.htm.
I am sure that this post will generate a flurry of negative response and insults from people who have not bothered to consider the posibilities or get the facts. Some people will claim that installing permanent lights will lead to more playing at night. On the contrary, I would submit that considering properly designed systems may lead to a reduction of the night hours permitted by the VOR as part of a COMPROMISE (God forbid everyone work together).
Before threatening to “stay out of your neighborhood” or ranting and raving about the “evil sports groups” or the failings of the BOE, why not let the options be explored to determine what works best for all of us?
>because that would require intelligence rather than ignorance… In Ridgewood, loud, obnoxious displays of ignorance are more fun and they make even the smallet minds feel important in the eyes of their neighbors.
>In Ridgewood, loud, obnoxious displays of ignorance are more fun ….you mean like crashing town cars after have one to many
>Not sure why Mr. Hutton chose to humilate the Village Council on Monday night.
>What do the posts at 5:18 and 9:55 have to do with portable lights at the fields?