Aliso Viejo, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Aliso Viejo Municipal Code § 15.62.070 opens with a blanket applicability clause: all properties are subject to the outdoor lighting standards, which are meant to allow adequate lighting for public safety and decorative purposes while minimizing the adverse effects of excessive lighting on adjacent properties and the community. Residential districts reach the same section through AVMC 15.14.130 and nonresidential districts through AVMC 15.22.110, and the parking facility standards in AVMC 15.38.070(D)(1) route parking lot lighting to 15.22.110 as well.

The shielding rules sit in subsection (D). Parking lot lighting in the City of Aliso Viejo must use decorative fixtures with full cutoff shields to direct light downward, and the stated purpose is to minimize off-site glare. Bollard or other low-height lighting is required for pedestrian areas whenever possible. Building-mounted fixtures must be integrated into the overall building design. Subsection (E) adds that building illumination or architectural lighting must be indirect, with no light source visible from abutting streets, and that it serves to emphasize building entries and particular building details.

Mounting height under subsection (B) limits how high a shielded fixture can sit. Building-mounted lights go below the eave line, or below the top of the building wall where there are no eaves. Pole or fence-mounted light sources can be no higher than 24 feet above finish grade in nonresidential districts and no higher than 10 feet in residential districts, with an exception for public and private parks and playfields.

Parks and playfields have their own track in subsection (F). Cutoff shields must be used to minimize spillover of direct rays outside the park site, the city determines the height of park lights as necessary for security and reasonable use, and no event requiring outdoor lighting can be started after 9:00 p.m. The landscape standards also protect lighting: plans must keep trees and other landscaping from obstructing light sources from outdoor fixtures, including parking lot lighting. Planning Services administers these standards through project review.