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OK, so our new 60 foot screen went up last Friday, and Sunday night was the first time I saw it in the dark. Guess what... it's not dark.

We've known all along that the existing warehouses in the industrial park had exterior lights on them, but have never been able to judge exactly "how much" light they are throwing onto our property. With our new screen acting as a huge light reflector, we can see the surface of the screen is being faintly illuminated by these "yellowish-orange" halogen lights from the warehouses down the street. There is enough light being shown onto the screen that you can see a shadow being cast by a couple of trees down the road. What are our choices?

Should we contact the building owner and ask that "we" be able to place a shield over his lights? Should we ask that the lights be placed on a timer and set to come on after mid-night?

I doubt there is any "legal recource" since we knowingly built our screen facing the existing building across the street, but we probably could stop efforts by future people who want to light up their building like a freakin' runway and shine the lights onto our screen.

Any suggestions on how to approach this other building owner?

Since there is NOTHING on the books in the Watertown codes regarding ambient light, don't you think now is the time to act to get something in the regulations that would be enforcable for future situations?

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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Lebanon, Tennessee

Stardust Drive-In Theatre
Watertown, Tennessee

talk to them re: shields that probably would not affect their lighting

see if it matters once you start showing movies: seems a lot of place have near by light: it may not matter. Wait and see.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

I agree, request them to install shields so the light doesn't shine on your screen. As two businesses in the same small community, you should be able to come to a mutual agreement, but you may need to share some of the cost. Maybe work out a deal involving passes or cross-promotion? Do they ever need overflow parking during the day?

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: 585-477-5325 Cell: 585-781-4036 Fax: 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

The "light offending" business is a manufacturing warehouse that makes Geotextile Fabric that goes under asphalt paving, and they also make "Quality Rat Bedding". Yes, I said "Rat Bedding". I guess even laboratory rats need something to sleep on.

The lights in question are up high on the wall between 2 sets of loading dock doors. The business is closed at night, and never recieve any shipments during nightime hours. I assume the lights are there merely for security purposes.

I have NO problem sharing the costs of sheilding their lights, and hopefully I can work out some type of mutual agreement with them. A simple shield created out of sheet metal would do the trick, as long as it blocked the light from our screen and still permited the light to shine on the parking area of his loading dock.

I would try talking with the business owner and mention the heretofore undiscovered light spillage problem. Yes, a simple shield fabricated out of sheet metal would probably work. I've seen taverns with standard mercury vapor (and sodium, too) lights that spilled over to nearby residents. What the tavern owners did was take the round outer diffuser off the light fixture and spray paint a third of it with flat black. Then when they reinstall the difuser they position the newly painted portion toward the residents. That way the parking lot is still well lit, but without the light spillage to adjoining property.