What is the value of sunlight?

The photo below was taken at 8:36 am on January 26, 2021. This time of year, the sun has been up for 3 hours. A photo from precisely one year ago would look much different. A year ago, the sun’s rays would stretch across the entire photo. The 3 shops on the right side of the street are Nadeau, Ed’s Pet World, and a barbershop. One year ago, they would have had sunlight coming into their windows, warming their stores.

Why the difference in the year? Because of the new building on the left. This sparks a few rhetorical questions, like “what is the value of the sunlight to hit your property?” and “what is your right to sunlight?”

Interestingly, there is some English Common Law on this precedent, but it appears to have died out in US law. It’s called a “Right to Light”, which the owner of a building with windows that have received natural daylight for 20 years or more is entitled to forbid any construction or other obstruction that would deprive him or her of that illumination.

Another building that has had a similar affect in Birmingham is new Cortland Vesta apartment building next to the Temple Beth-El in 5 Points. The apartment building is so tall, the sunlight no longer reaches the temple in the afternoons.

While I’m pro-development, it’s a the shadow is a shame. How can Homewood mitigate this type of impact in the future? Consider the yearly track of the sun in the design and approval process. Angle the footprint of buildings so that it allows warming sunlight in the winter, but provides relief from the sun in the summer.