Tim Hortons Field stadium blasts neighbours with light at all hours

Tiger-Cats stadium, burning bright, in the middle of the night.

And sometimes in broad sun.

"You wake up at 4 a.m. and in your bedroom it might as well be daylight," said Myke Hutchings, who's lived near the stadium site for 17 years. "The field lights are on and sometimes the video screen can be on."

The unpredictable lighting system – and its on/off control – are among the "deficiencies" with the new stadium, built last year to host the Pan Am soccer games and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The city, the team and the province have each filed legal notices preserving their chance to sue over delays and deficiencies. And solving the erratic lighting is caught up in those legal manoeuvres and has become part of the negotiations now underway to try to settle them. 

"As far as I'm concerned, it's unacceptable because it's not being a good neighbor," Hutchings said. "And number two, somebody's got to be paying for all of that electricity."

Beyond the complaints made on social media and in calls to the city, it's unclear how often the lights have been on all night or in broad daylight. 

'I walked mesmerized into the light'

Marc Skulnick, editor of Hamilton Magazine, saw the lights at all hours when he was running past the stadium training for Around the Bay earlier this year.

"The lights appeared to be on all day, seven days a week and from what I heard, all night too," he said.

Larry Pattison, a school board trustee in Ward 3, has also seen the light. He expects that neighbouring homes can see the lights through closed curtains.

"I remember the first night the stadium lights came on when it was built," he said. "I was walking my dog along Ottawa St., turned onto Campbell and was like, 'Whoa,' as I walked mesmerized into the light back home."

'Deficiencies'

The city is tight-lipped about the situation.

‎"We really can't elaborate on the deficiencies as they are all part of the negotiations we're sorting out," said Chris Murray, city manager.

The city has issued a notice of action in Hamilton Superior Court about the stadium project, which was built by a construction consortium called Ontario Sports Solutions. Infrastructure Ontario (IO) oversaw the $145-million project.

Coun. Matthew Green's office has fielded constituent complaints about the lights and has asked city staff to make sure the lights get turned off by 11 p.m., said Simon Granat in Green's office.

"We are committed to working with neighbours to address any issues that may arise due to lighting or other matters to make our stadium neighbourhood even better," he said.

'What a thing to see'

Granat said the city is using money held back from the contractor to try to remedy the issue.

Pattison said the stadium generally brightens up the neighbourhood.

"What a thing to see that structure and the old one, among row houses, schools and green space," he said. "The brightness even when the main flood lights are off, makes it feel like a safe place to enjoy the old architecture that surrounds it and the beautiful view of the tree-lined escarpment."

kelly.bennett@cbc.ca | @kellyrbennett