Lloyd Harbor stargazers rejoice. The village Board of Trustees passed a new law to prevent light pollution and disruptive outdoor lights at their most recent meeting Monday night.

After the unanimous vote, Village Trustee Leland Deane slumped back in his chair as other board members patted him on the back. Deane had worked on a light pollution proposal for years before he was elected to the board.

"We are the pocket of darkness" for stargazers, Deane said before the vote. The new law would help protect one of the darkest night skies east of the Hamptons, he added.

The board saw a presentation in January by Susan Harder of the Long Island-based Dark Sky Society, a public advocacy group. She said bad lighting causes a host of problems including glare, light trespass, ecological disturbances, health problems and a nighttime "sky glow" overhead that indicates wasted energy and obscures constellations and the aforementioned Milky Way.

Local Law B-2010 will create regulations on outdoor lighting like the type of fixtures allowed, the direction and orientation of lights and restrictions on when they can be used. The law will also require shields to be installed on outdoor lights to reduce light pollution.

Many residents supported the law during its public hearing as a way to preserve the night sky and prevent neighbor's lights from being distracting. Most cited the nearby Lloyd Neck Bath Club as having bright lights, while others claimed some outdoor lights blinded drivers and invaded their homes.

 "It's like living on the East German border," resident Martina Gates joked. 

 Homeowner Richard Hamburger opposed the measure because the local law would affect his four antique carriage lights. He specifically called the date of compliance in six months "radical," though he said he respected the intention of the law. The board pushed the compliance date back another year as a result.

The board also held a hearing on a local law that would reduce the number of domestic animals a resident could own. The measure would limit the number of horses to two for the first acre of property and one more animal for each additional acre. Dogs and cats would be exempt from the proposed law.

The law was created in response to a complaint from Lloyd Harbor resident Nina Gennosa, who said her neighbor's multiple horses are making her life a "living nightmare."

 Gennosa told the board that the corral for the horses was close to her property line and the smell drifted into her yard.

 "My son can't play lacrosse [in my yard] because of the smell of manure," she said.

However, horse-owning residents protested the proposal as punishing them and their pets because of one individual.

 "This is someone who abused his privileges and we're being penalized for it," said resident Carol Miller. Miller suggested the neighbor be sent a summons instead of adopting the law.

 Gates agreed, saying that the majority of Lloyd Harbor residents were "good horse owners and neighbors" and that no other complaints had been filed.

Gennosa supported the idea, and asked if there was a way the neighbor could be dealt with without altering local law.

The Board deferred a decision on the law to next month's meeting to address the concerns.

After the public hearings, the Board approved over $225,000 to be spent on patching and resurfacing four roads in the village, including Southdown and Snake Hill roads. The work will not begin for several months, but Village Attorney John Ritter said roadwork is already ahead of schedule.