Arvada, CO Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 4-8-2-2(A) is the City's core shielding standard: luminaires must be shielded and directed to avoid glare and overspill onto adjacent property, and every exterior light fixture must be a full cutoff fixture aimed straight down (90 degrees from true vertical) with a flat lens, emitting no more than 10 percent of its total lumens between 80 and 90 degrees from vertical. Fixtures mounted on structures, poles, bollards, or buildings must carry a shield, adjustable reflector, or non-protruding diffuser so the light source itself cannot be seen from an adjacent residential zoning district.

Section 4-8-2-1(C) backs this up with an outright ban on aerial lasers, searchlights, rotating beacons (unless part of a permitted special event of five days or fewer), and any flashing, blinking, or changing-intensity lighting, plus any fixture imitating official traffic control signals. Section 4-8-2-2(J) adds that poles and fixtures must be dark colored, black, dark gray, dark green or brown, and cannot be reflective or light colored. Section 4-8-2-6 layers a curfew on top of the design rules: one hour after a business closes, all illumination must be reduced by at least 70 percent and stay reduced until one hour before the business reopens, achieved by dimming or shutting off some or all fixtures.

Residential uses, including residential units in mixed-use buildings, are exempt from the curfew, and outdoor recreation lighting instead follows its own reduction schedule under Section 4-8-2-5, dropping 50 percent immediately after play ends and going fully dark within an hour or when the facility is not in use. Security lighting above the curfew's minimum reduction is allowed only with a motion or range detector that shuts it off within 15 minutes.