There was obvious desperation in Sheila Colonese’s plea.

“I am having a major disagreement with my neighbor behind me,” Colonese wrote in an email. “I have no recourse or action that can help me. My neighbors have installed floodlights on their house. As the night darkens, their lights turn into a nightmare for my household. They are so bright. I have no idea what to do except sell my house and move. Please help!”

Colonese described five lights recently installed on the back of neighbor Joanne Huddleson’s home.

“They are LED lights,” Colonese said, noting that she invested in light-blocking shades to shield bedrooms in the path of the lights.

“When my son’s drapes come apart, the light shines though and actually wakes him up through the crack.”

Colonese said she sent over a note to Huddleson asking her to dim the lights.

“It was a nice, polite note,” she said. “I said: ‘Your light is disturbing us. We can’t open our windows. We can’t sleep. Will you please turn them off.’ So they turned them on earlier.”

Two lights mounted at the peak of the roof are especially bright, Colonese said.

“They really fill up the neighborhood,” she said.

Especially disappointing was the thought she and her family would no longer enjoy backyard campouts on their trampoline.

“We take sleeping bags out with snacks and sleep out there,” she said. “We’ve had to curb our outside activities.”

When her anonymous note to the neighbor didn’t produce results, Colonese wrote The Gazette.

Actually, all Colonese had to do was contact Colorado Springs Code Enforcement, as I did.

A quick conversation with Tom Wasinger, code enforcement administrator, offered immediate relief for Colonese and neighbors on Helmsdale Drive near Research Parkway on the city’s north side.

“City code states that all exterior lighting shall be arranged to reflect away from any adjoining premises or public right of way and shall be shielded to contain all direct rays on site,” Wasinger said.

A code enforcement officer worked with Huddleson to reposition her lights and shield them to prevent blasting the neighbors’ children out of bed.

“This does not affect porchlights,” Wasinger said. “This is geared toward spotlights and intense lights that shine direct rays on adjoining property.”

The visit from the code officer and the neighbor complaints surprised Huddleson, who said she was shocked her security lights were upsetting neighbors and positioned illegally.

“I had no idea it would be a problem,” Huddleson said. “I didn’t realize how insensitive the lights were. So I switched them all out.

“I had them taken down and replaced with lower-watt lights. And I had them directed down toward my house instead of into my yard.”

Neighbor Barry Patterson said he, too, noticed the lights.

“But we don’t sleep in the back of the house, so it hasn’t been an issue,” he said.

Then he got a call from Huddleson.

“She apologized and said she had no idea they were so bright,” he said. “She’s done what she can to tone them down.”

Patterson wondered about the competency of the security company that installed the lighting.

“Who counseled her to put them up and light up the whole neighborhood?” he said. “It seems they could have gotten something that provided adequate lighting without bothering the neighbors.”

Regardless, Colonese and Patterson are pleased with the response.

“The way houses are built, you are close neighbors even if you aren’t close friends,” Patterson said. “So we all need to get along.”

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Bill Vogrin – Side Streets