Scottsdale, AZ Holiday Decorations: Holiday Light Rules (2026)

Scottsdale has no specific ordinance limiting the dates, brightness, or duration of residential seasonal holiday lighting at single-family homes. Residents may install seasonal lights on private property without prior approval. Permanent exterior wiring such as hardwired soffit channels or always-on landscape lighting requires an electrical permit through Planning & Development Services and must be installed per the adopted National Electrical Code. Scottsdale is partially within recognized dark-sky-conscious areas, particularly in north Scottsdale near the Sonoran Preserve, and the City's outdoor-lighting provisions in the Scottsdale Revised Code generally exempt seasonal holiday lighting for limited periods but discourage broad-spectrum white floodlighting upward into the sky year-round. Scottsdale is heavily HOA-governed; most master-planned communities (DC Ranch, Grayhawk, McDowell Mountain Ranch, Troon) enforce holiday lighting display windows (typically Thanksgiving through mid-January) and brightness or color rules through recorded CCRs. Excessive sustained brightness or sky-glow constituting a verifiable nuisance can be addressed through Scottsdale Code Enforcement under the general property maintenance and nuisance provisions. Arizona Revised Statutes Sec. 33-1808 protects residents' rights to display the U.S. flag and certain other flags against HOA bans.