By Buzz Trexler
Star Correspondent
City Council members on Thursday night heard from a Stoney Creek couple complaining about their neighbors’ bright lights trespassing on their dark sky, and a downtown business owner wanting some light shed on East Elk Avenue’s status during cruise-ins.
Toni Winchester and her husband, Jim, told City Council they relocated to the area about five years ago because they were attracted to the rural setting, despite a “top-producing Realtor with RE/MAX refusing to show us any property in Carter County.”
The Winchesters eventually bought a house on C. Grindstaff Road, outside of the city limits in Stoney Creek, and they maintain the neighboring Evening Breeze Arena has installed LED commercial lighting leased from the city electric department that is so bright as to disturb not just the rural darkness, but their life.
“Their light penetrates through a window of a bedroom and got into my house, and if I have that bedroom door open it goes down my hallway,” Toni Winchester said as she directed council and staff through handouts she and her husband provided. She said the arena is located about 300 yards away and once had sodium lights, which they accepted, but had recently changed to the LEDs.
It’s not just the arena that has the offending lights, she said, but another neighbor who lives about 200 yards away has them installed. “She has two of these lights on either side of her house,” the woman said. “The light on the northside casts a shadow on my driveway on my property and it is a perfect line of sight to my pillow in my bed in the bedroom, so I have to close my door.”
Winchester said the couple has done their best to “eliminate some of the light pollution and light trespass on the back of our house from streets like Blue Springs and streets beyond, but we just cannot camouflage all of the lights, and we’re seeing that the yellow sodium lights are now being replaced with the bright white lights. Well, that’s destroying our night sky. We can’t see the stars. It’s really tough to enjoy the fireflies.”
The lights are leased from the Elizabethton Electric Department and the couple were “asking for an intervention” by the city. Jim Winchester directed council members through handouts he provided explaining lighting options and principles for “responsible outdoor lighting.”
City Mayor Curt Alexander suggested the issue of lighting and dark skies may be a topic for a future workshop.
Cruise-in Confusion
The question concerning the status of East Elk Avenue during cruise-ins came from Lisa Fletcher, owner of Fletcher’s Homemade, 510 E. Elk Ave., who said a sign had been put out during the recent cruise-in that read “road closed to show car only.” It was only one of several examples of conversations and signage she said has led to the confusion.
During the discussion between council members and staff, it was determined the sign was not a city sign and that the road is not closed during the cruise-ins, but drivers are encouraged to use alternate routes unless they are frequenting a business or the car show.
City Manager Daniel Estes encouraged Elizabethton Police Chief Jason Shaw to help those working at the upper end of the entrance to understand that drivers can travel the open lane, if necessary.
“But just to be absolutely clear, you know, that if they need to come and go, whatever else, just be slow and careful,” Estes said.
Among other actions, council members also approved distribution of $100,000 in the fiscal year 2024-2025 budget to nine non-profit charitable and civic organizations that requested financial support from the city: Elizabethton Senior Citizens Center, $50,000; East TN Spay Neuter, $2,500; The Shepherd’s Inn, $12,000; Second Harvest Food Bank $2,000; Carter Compassion Center, $5,000; ARM Food Pantry, $4,000; Children’s Advocacy Center, $5,000; Keep Carter County Beautiful, $7,500; and Loaves & Fishes Outreach Ministry, $12,000.
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