Outdoor Lighting in Thousand Oaks, CA (2026)
3 verified outdoor lighting rules for Thousand Oaks, California, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Dark Sky Rules
Thousand Oaks has no citywide dark-sky ordinance, but its self-storage facility standard mandates full cut-off, shielded fixtures capped at 14 feet and bans low-pressure sodium and mercury-vapor lamps. A near-identical shielding rule applies to backyard residential sports-facility lighting.
Thousand Oaks Outdoor Lighting Shielding Rules
Some RestrictionsThousand Oaks Municipal Code (TOMC) Sec. 9-4.2528(b)(3)(iii)
(iii) Lighting. The use of lighting must be integrally designed as part of the built environment and should reflect a balance of the lighting needs for the self-storage facility and surrounding nighttime characteristics of the community. aa. Lighting should be designed to minimize glare and light spillover and maximize energy conservation. bb. Full cut-off fixtures reduced mounting heights, and...
Light Trespass & Shielding
Thousand Oaks requires perimeter and floodlighting on commercial and industrial property to be hooded or shielded so no direct beam crosses onto a public street or a neighboring parcel. The rule sits in the zoning code's general commercial and industrial standards, not a standalone lighting chapter.
Thousand Oaks Light Trespass Rules
Some RestrictionsThousand Oaks Municipal Code (TOMC) § 9-4.2309(d) (Commercial and Industrial Zones: General Requirements)
Perimeter or floodlighting, whether used for illumination or advertisement, which illuminates private land, whether improved or not, shall be permitted only when such lighting is installed on private property and is hooded or shielded so that no direct beams therefrom fall upon public streets, alleys, highways, or private property.
Billboard Lighting
Thousand Oaks keeps illuminated signs away from homes: an illuminated sign can't be erected within 75 feet of a residential district that has homes on it unless the sign carries a label certifying its brightness doesn't exceed 450 foot-lamberts, measured directly off the light source with other nearby lighting turned off.
Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting
Some RestrictionsThousand Oaks Municipal Code (TOMC) § 9-4.2309(r) (Sign Regulations -- Commercial and Industrial Zones: General Requirements)
No illuminated sign shall be erected closer than seventy-five (75') feet to any residential land use district on which there exists structures used for residential purposes unless such illuminated sign shall have labeled thereon that the illumination factor does not exceed four hundred fifty (450') foot lamberts measured by an approved light metering system. Such measurements shall be taken dir...
Looking for Ventura County county-wide rules?
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Thousand Oaks city rules.
Outdoor Lighting in Ventura County →