PORTSMOUTH � The five-story, 600-space Foundry Place Garage was built to solve the city�s notorious downtown parking crunch.

But the garage, which opened on Halloween, seems to be creating another problem: its lights are too bright for some neighbors.

Several city residents living near the new garage have reached out to the City Council to complain about the bright lights at the garage, which is located off Deer Street on a new city road called Foundry Place.

Sparhawk Street resident Jonathan Morse told the council he lives across the street from the new garage.

�The lights at night are so bright that it illuminates the inside (of) my house. I understand that lights are necessary for safety and I am not asking to remove the lights, I am asking to find the balance between safety and brightness,� Morse said in an email to the council. �Maybe put up a screen so the lights are not so bright. Or perhaps have the lights pointed in such a way that they do not overwhelm the surrounding area.�

He added that he doesn�t believe �the brightness of the garage is within the guidelines and rules set by the city.�

City resident, Joe Famularo, who lives on Mill Pond Way, described the lights at the new parking garage as �extremely bright.�

He said �pretty much everyone who lives on the North Mill Pond� is being affected by the lights from the new garage.

�Our shades now have to be drawn at night in our bedroom for the room to be dark enough to sleep. The light from the parking garage now lights up the whole Mill Pond,� he said. �If I placed lights in my back yard that illuminated the pond like those in the garage, the city would be on my throat like a pit bull on a piece of meat to shut them off.�

�It is time for the city to correct the lighting and stop destroying our North Mill Pond neighborhood,� he added.

Beth Jefferson, another Sparhawk Street resident, said she now has to �experience the site of the expansive new garage.�

�I no longer have a view of the church,� she said, instead she gets to see what she described as a �massive cement structure that is unreasonably brightly lit.�

�The light pollution is overwhelming. I don�t recall seeing images of this eyesore from our neighborhood�s perspective as part of the planning process, nor any indication of the God-awful lighting,� Jefferson said. �I urge you to consider what an ugly distraction this is for all of us nearby and in direct view of the full length of the building.�

�Reducing the brilliance of the lighting would help,� she added.

But there are other residents who urged the council not to change the lights on the new garage.

Driftwood Lane resident Dixie Tarbell told the council she likes the new garage�s lighting.

�To me it adds to the city�s night-time charisma,� she said, and added that it �looks majestically artistic,� while also increasing safety.

Wibird Street resident Jason Boucher stated the garage lighting �makes it safe at night.�

He added that the lights on the garage are �part of city life.�

Department of Public Works Director Peter Rice said the brightness of the garage lights �is something we�re looking at to see if there�s any adjustments� that can be made.

�The garage obviously needs lighting for security and safety,� Rice said in an interview Monday. �There�s going to be light impacts associated with any new structure.�

The DPW, Rice said, is �exploring what options are available to try to mitigate it if possible.�

�The thing to remember too is anytime there�s a change there�s a period of adjustment,� Rice said. �The garage gives us a lot of flexibility. During the Christmas parade, it was full that night. It�s something that�s part of an overall program.�

City staff are going to be meeting soon to see if there �may be treatments to reduce the spillover� from the lights, Rice said.

�It�s not an enclosed structure. There is going to be some light impact,� Rice said.

Rice stressed several times that �you have to have enough light to make it safe.�

The garage was built as part of a public/private partnership between the city and Deer Street Associates, which has proposed building four mixed-use buildings around the new garage.

DSA sold the city the land for the garage for about $5 million. Foundry Place now joins the city�s High-Hanover parking garage as Portsmouth�s second downtown municipal garage.

The City Council in 2015 approved $23.2 million to buy the land and build the new garage, but in 2017 it had to approve another $3 million for the garage due to cost overruns, making it a $26.2 million project.

Sparhawk Street resident and Historic District Commissioner Jon Wyckoff pointed to the city�s support of dark sky lighting regulations in an email to the City Council.

�I believe that a mistake was made in selecting and locating these fixtures. The impact they are having on all the citizens on the Mill Pond is significant,� he said. �In particular, the tall street lamps on the top deck and an outside light by the back tower door should be looked at immediately.�

He added the other light fixtures on the garage �could be rebulbed with warmer and less wattage LEDs.�

�This is more important than you believe,� he added.