Discussion:

Following Council’s direction, the Planning Department undertook a more detailed review of other municipalities across Canada to determine how the issue of Nuisance Lighting is handled. The results of that search are summarized as follows:

Municipality	Separate NuisanceLighting / OutdoorLighting Bylaw	Included in Property Standards/ Maintenance By- law*	Included inZoning or LandUse By- law	Best Practices (similar to LISS)
Hamilton, Ontario				Dow ntow n ROW and Public Spaces Study
Huntsville, Ontario	●			●
Mississauga, Ontario	●
Ottawa, Ontario		●
Toronto, Ontario		●		●
Vaughn , Ontario		●
Airdrie, Alberta			●
Calgary, Alberta		●
Winnipeg, Manitoba			●	Provincial PolicyStatement
Moosejaw, Saskatchewan		●		Provincial PolicyStatement
North Vancouver, BC	●
Vancouver, BC		●
Totals	3	6	2	5

NOTE: * Property Standards By-laws generally have restricted enforcement to the impact on residential properties.

While there was no definitive consistency on how municipalities handle the issue of nuisance lighting, it can be concluded that any by-law or best practices with vocabulary pertaining to controlling the issue, concur that any measures were to provide a “no negative impact on an adjacent property.” While both Mississauga and North Vancouver have Nuisance By-laws, only Mississauga’s By-law (see Appendix A) addresses light trespass from real property to real property other than a residential property.

Planning Department staff conducted a physical review of the areas that are experiencing the most impact of nuisance lights identified in the Council Report of May 6, 2019. (see Appendix B) The review identified that the problem is citywide; however, there are concentrated areas where the issue is more prevalent.

Site visits conducted by Planning Department staff, throughout various times of the day, identified that exterior signs with these lights remain on 24/7 and add only a slight visible attraction in the daylight hours; moderate legibility during twilight; and render exterior signage illegible in the dark. Where lights have been installed around windows, illumination of interior signage is somewhat improved when the lights face the interior signage. In both sign and window installations where the positioning of the LED lights would be classified as non-Full Cut-Off, the lamp source is directed outward towards the viewer; resulting in intense glare that causes the viewer to not be able to read the signage or anything around the lights. (see Appendix C)