T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Haverhill resident Amy Sinclaire addresses the Marshall County Board of Supervisors during Wednesday morning’s meeting, asking them to consider a light trespass ordinance and citing an ongoing issue with a nearby property owner.

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors spent over 20 minutes of Wednesday morning’s regular meeting hearing from a frustrated resident of Haverhill, who told them that she was having issues with a neighboring property owner and asked the board to consider a “light trespass” ordinance as a result.

Amy Sinclaire presented packets of information to each of three supervisors — two of whom hail from the Haverhill area — and said she has a lighting concern at her house that has “blossomed into four separate issues.” Her efforts to convince the business operator — a stock car manufacturer — at the nearby residence to “remedy” the situation have been unsuccessful, and even her offer to purchase a motion sensing light herself has been rebuffed.

When Sinclaire contacted Marshall County Zoning Administrator Tyler Kelley, she was notified that there was no lighting nuisance ordinance currently on the books, and from there, she reached out to the supervisors. Supervisor Christian Goodman encouraged her to continue directly working with the property owner in hopes of reaching a peaceful resolution regarding the light in question but felt that creating a countywide ordinance based on a single concern could be challenging.

Sinclaire contended that Iowa Code Chapter 335, which governs county zoning, is not conditioned on the volume of complaints, and she also noted that the owner of the property in question — determined to be DC Brown through a search of Marshall County Beacon records — maintains a mailing address in California. According to those records, Brown owns or co-owns a total of 22 properties in Marshall County between Marshalltown, Le Grand, Laurel, Melbourne, Gilman and Haverhill, all but one of them residential.

Citing her local roots and work as an alcohol and drug counselor in Marshalltown, Sinclaire then raised other issues related to the property beyond just the light trespass, first asking the board to direct the zoning administrator to cite the owner and require a compliant cutoff shield to be installed. She added that this was not simply a “neighbor dispute” as artificial light at night can increase the risk for depression, suppresses melatonin and drives chronic sleep depression.

She then raised questions about the taxation of the property and the fact that a commercial business was being operated on an agriculturally classified parcel.

“A commercial vehicle fabrication operator run by an absentee, out-of-state owner is not a permitted agricultural use,” she said.

According to Sinclair, an attempt to confirm the zoning classification with the assessor’s office did not result in a conclusive answer, and she felt it should be resolved. A review of the Beacon site showed that the property was actually classified as residential.

From there, her remarks shifted focus toward data centers, which have become increasingly prevalent in Iowa, and said Marshall County is “a target” because of its rural land and energy infrastructure.

“The documented harms from unregulated data center development include 24-hour light pollution, enormous water consumption, energy cost increases for all taxpayers, low-frequency noise affecting livestock and the loss of agricultural land,” she said. “I’m asking this board to direct staff to begin drafting data center zoning standards before the first inquiry lands on this desk, not after.”

Finally, she discussed wind turbines and asked the supervisors to consider revising their current ordinances along with her previous requests for a lighting ordinance and an audit of the property in question.

“If one person fabricating stock cars in the county can operate without restrictions, imagine what Google with millions of dollars will be able to do,” Sinclaire said.

As she fielded questions from the board, Sinclaire told them that one of the business operators wished to leave the light on continuously as he did not live there. When Goodman asked her if she had worked with the Haverhill city council, she said her own home lies within city limits, but the business is located in the county.

Board Chairman Jarret Heil asked her if there are any other outdoor lighting ordinances in Iowa, and Sinclaire believed that the cities of Marshalltown and Grinnell did. Goodman indicated that he and Heil, both being from Haverhill, are familiar with the light and called it bright.

As Sinclaire wrapped up her remarks, the supervisors thanked her for her time, and Heil said they would need time to do more research before enacting any sort of ordinance. Hibbs sought clarity on the stipulations under Iowa Code, and Kelley came forward to explain that they would need a draft ordinance as previous attempts to pass a statewide nuisance law in the legislature have stalled.

Kelley felt it would be difficult to submit a complaint without a specific county ordinance regarding light trespass on the books.

“My office could write a letter of recommendation. I’d feel comfortable with that, but as far as a civil citation or anything like that, I don’t think I have the backing,” Kelley said as Sinclaire noted that she disagreed with his statement. “That’s my personal opinion.”

He added that he could consult County Attorney Jordan Gaffney for further clarification and said the code section Sinclair was referencing gave the county the authority to create an ordinance. The board ultimately took no action. Randy Brown, the son of DC Brown and co-owner of many of his properties, was reached by the T-R on Thursday and explained that the light in question is a shop light.

“Everybody that has a shop has one,” he said. “It comes on at nighttime from dusk to dawn.”

According to Brown, who splits his time between Marshalltown and California, he has not had any direct conversations with Sinclaire, but she approached an employee who works on his rental properties about the issue. He added that she is the only person who has complained thus far.

“I feel like I’m acting appropriately. I just have a dusk to dawn light. She’s being a Karen, I guess. I have to pay an electrician to come out so I can put a switch on, but I’m the only one in the whole town that’s got to do this? I mean, that’s the problem we’ve got here,” he said. “One of the reasons why I have a light on is nobody lives there, and I have stuff there. And we had a gentleman walking around for quite a while and breaking into stuff… I’m not the only one in town that has lights. I guess I’m fortunate enough to be the only person that’s bothering her. None of my neighbors complain about it.”

He plans to move to the Haverhill house permanently once renovations are completed.