- May 11, 2024
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Several Palm Coast residents have filed code enforcement complaints against the city of Palm Coast for light and noise pollution emitting from Ralph Carter Park.
“[The park is] our neighbor,” R-Section resident Marion Petruzzi said. “If I was putting out all those lights and noises … you would give me a summons.”
Petruzzi and Harold Sankey live on Richardson Drive, directly behind Ralph Carter Park. City records show that both Petruzzi and Sankey filed complaints with the code enforcement office on Nov. 15 and 16 about light from the park’s multi-use lights and noise from the multiple sports leagues — for adults and kids — that use the park. A third person told the Observer they had filed a complaint as well.
Ralph Carter, built in 2009, is one of two parks in Palm Coast with lighting for its multi-use fields. The fields have 10 lights, several of which point directly toward Richardson Drive, separated by some trees and a fence. Palm Coast Communications Director Brittany Kershaw wrote to the Observer in an email that the lights at Ralph Carter, like other parks with amenities like basketball courts and fields, are on until 10 p.m., when the park closes.
“We’ve done some trial-and-error with turning them off at certain times,” Kershaw wrote, “but unfortunately, it is unsafe for the park to turn them off any earlier than we do.”
If I was putting out all those lights and noises … you would give me a summons.”
— MARION PETRUZZI, resident
Petruzzi and Sankey said the lights weren’t on all the time in the past; only in the last year or so have the lights become a problem. Sankey’s rear property line faces the park, and the lights shine directly into his bedroom windows, he said.
“Even when I close the blinds, I still get those bright lights shining in my back bedrooms,” he said. “I don’t even have to turn the light on when I go in there at night.”
Petruzzi said she has contacted City Council members, the city manager and the city Parks and Recreation director about the lights and noise since September 2022, only to be ignored or brushed off.
Petruzzi said this is the second time she has become a spokesperson for the neighborhood about Ralph Carter. In 2011, Petruzzi spoke up on behalf of the neighborhood to get a fence installed around the park.
During that process, she said, her home was vandalized several times. Because of that, people in the neighborhood are afraid to speak up, she said.
Even when I close the blinds, I still get those bright lights shining in my back bedrooms. I don't even have to turn the light on when I go in there at night."
— HAROLD SANKEY, resident
Code Enforcement Director Barbara Grossman told the Observer that a Code Enforcement lead supervisor will be going out to Richardson Drive every night starting Nov. 28 after dark to investigate the noise and light pollution complaints. The nightly inspections will continue for at least a week, and could last longer, Grossman said.
“Staff is looking into it and will continue to monitor [the park],” she said.
Sankey said he bought his lot on Richardson Drive in 1997, before the city was even incorporated. The park was originally intended as a residential park, he said, but it is being used like it’s a sports complex.
He said that when the adult sports leagues are out on the fields, he can hear the players and spectators yelling, screaming and swearing constantly.
“I have no issue with the park there, if it was used the way it was intended to be used,” he said. “The original plan was a neighborhood park for the kids to play in and people that walk their dogs.”
Petruzzi said she would like the city to place coverings over the lights or direct the lights away from the neighborhood, and turn off the lights when no one is in the park to use them.
“It’s not supposed to be a sports stadium park,” Petruzzi said. “It’s supposed to be a residential park.”
Sankey said he hopes the complaints and attention will spark action from a council and city that doesn’t seem to listen to its residents.
“Maybe this will wake those people up,” he said, “and they’ll do some to improve our quality of life.”
