Asheville, NC Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

City Code Sec. 7-11-10 states its purpose includes preservation of the night sky, and its general standards for new outdoor lighting in subsection (g) require: "All exterior light fixtures shall be classified as providing full cutoff light distribution," defined in subsection (b) as a fixture where zero candela intensity occurs at or above 90 degrees above nadir and the candela per 1,000 lamp lumens does not exceed 100 (ten percent) at or above 80 degrees above nadir. Pole-mounted lights may not exceed 37 feet in mounting height.

New dusk-to-dawn security lights must be full cutoff fixtures rated no higher than 9,500 fixture lumens (6,000 lumens in residential zoning districts), or a mounting height not exceeding 25 feet, and utility-type dusk-to-dawn fixtures must carry a reflector shield providing full cutoff distribution. LED fixtures face their own dark-sky standard: correlated color temperature cannot exceed 4,300 Kelvin, and fixture lumens are capped at 6,500 in residential districts and 20,000 in non-residential districts. The prohibitions list in subsection (f) separately bans upward-oriented lighting, floodlights, search lights and laser-source lights, internally illuminated wall panels, and lighting of angled roof surfaces.

Existing nonconforming floodlights installed before the November 25, 2008 effective date may continue only if angled down and shielded to produce a full cutoff distribution, and must be brought into compliance, removed, or replaced within five years of that date, or the owner faces the civil penalties in Sec. 7-18-2(b).