Outdoor Lighting in Sedona, AZ: What Residents Actually Need to Know

If you live in Sedona or are thinking about moving there, outdoor lighting are one of those things you probably won't think about until they affect you directly. Sedona has 2 specific rules on the books covering different aspects of outdoor lighting, and some of them might surprise you.

Dark Sky Rules

Sedona's Land Development Code requires every new or substantially modified outdoor light fixture in the city to be fully shielded, protecting the town's International Dark-Sky Community status. The code caps color temperature at 4,000 Kelvin, bans mercury vapor bulbs and searchlights outright, and gives owners of existing nonconforming fixtures until January 1, 2028 to bring them into compliance.

Key details: Shielding standard: Fully shielded fixtures required. Color temperature cap: 4,000 Kelvin maximum. Partially shielded lumen cap: 3,850 lumens per net acre. Per-lamp lumen cap: 1,400 initial lumens. Compliance deadline: January 1, 2028.

Installing or keeping an exterior fixture that does not meet Section 5.8's shielding, color-temperature or lumen limits blocks issuance of a lighting or building permit, and the community development Director can require noncompliant fixtures to be corrected as a condition of any permit. The city has set a hard citywide deadline of January 1, 2028 for every nonconforming fixture to be brought into compliance or replaced with a conforming lamp.

Light Trespass & Shielding

Sedona requires every outdoor light fixture to be fully shielded so illumination stays inside the property line where it originates. Fixtures cannot be aimed onto a neighbor's land except for shared parking or pedestrian areas, and any partially shielded fixture the Director allows is capped at 3,850 initial lumens per net acre and 1,400 lumens per lamp.

Key details: Default fixture rule: fully shielded, no exceptions absent approval. Trespass rule: light confined to property boundaries. Trespass exceptions: shared parking, pathways, multi-parcel sites. Partial-shield cap: 3,850 lumens per net acre. Per-lamp cap: 1,400 initial lumens.

A fixture that isn't shielded, or that throws light across a property line without qualifying for the shared-parking, shared-pathway, or multi-parcel exception, doesn't meet Section 5.8.E(3) and has to be corrected or replaced; new and modified exterior lighting is reviewed against these standards before a permit issues. A partially shielded fixture that exceeds 3,850 lumens per net acre or 1,400 lumens per lamp exceeds the cap even with Director approval and must be brought down to the limit.

The Bottom Line

Sedona's outdoor lighting rules are a mixed bag. Some areas are strict, others are relaxed, and the details matter. The best approach is to check the specific rule that applies to your situation rather than assuming Sedona is broadly strict or permissive.

These rules come from Sedona's publicly available municipal code. For complete penalty schedules, exemption details, and answers to common questions, see the individual ordinance pages throughout this guide.