When San Rafael officials announced last year they would “let the light in” citywide and save on energy costs by installing 2,700 new LED street lamps, they assumed most residents would welcome the added visibility at night.

What they didn’t count on was a brightness so intense that residents say wildlife have fled and sunglasses are required for night walks.

“My neighbors have compared it to a concentration camp, a Walmart parking lot or an airport tarmac,” Marian MacMillan said at last week’s San Rafael City Council meeting. “I’ve not seen any deer, raccoons or skunks since the lights went in.”

Lois Tucker of Gerstle Park said the new lights shine right into her living room window.

“It’s incredibly bright, too bright,” she said. “It interferes with the quiet enjoyment of my house.”

MacMillan and Tucker were two of about a half-dozen residents who spoke up about the LED, or light-emitting diode, equipment. Another 100 residents have filed complaints with the city, said Bill Guerin, the city’s public works director.

“We’re not ignoring it,” Guerin said. “We’re actively working on it.”

Guerin said city staff and Pacific Gas & Electric Co., partners in the project, are looking at options to reduce the brightness. Those could include installing a shield or screen on the lamps, changing the angle of the lights or setting up a dimmer system, he said.

Deanna Contreras, a PG&E representative, said about 300 more lamps are due to be installed before the work is completed sometime next month. She said PG&E staff are focusing on the shield option as a solution to the brightness.

Alezz Laielen, another Gerstle Park resident, said later she was concerned about health effects of the LED lamps.

In 2016, the American Medical Association issued a statement about LED lamps, saying that high-intensity street lights can emit enough blue light to cause discomfort from glaring; pose safety hazards through decreasing “visual acuity”; and pose health risks by disrupting sleep patterns.

“On my walk the other night, wearing dark glasses, I connected with four people that hate the new LED streetlights, but didn’t know they could complain, and three other neighbors that aren’t as affected and didn’t know these overly bright streetlights caused harm to nocturnal wildlife and ecosystems,” Laielen said in an email.

MacMillan added at the meeting that any crime-deterring benefit from the added visibility has been offset by the lights serving as spotlights for new locations for vagrants and homeless people to camp.

San Rafael’s street light replacement project, financed with a $1.2 million, 1 percent-interest loan from the California Energy Commission, is expected to save an estimated $175,000 annually in electricity costs.