Ashwaubenon, WI Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 17-6-300 covers outdoor lighting on residential and commercial sites within the Village, with public streets, bikeways and walkways carved out. The definitions in § 17-6-300(B) set the technical bar for compliant fixtures: a 'shielded or full cutoff lighting fixture' must use flat, clear lenses with no refractorizing elements, operate in a fixed horizontal position on nonadjustable hardware, and conceal its light source from anyone viewing it at less than 15 degrees above horizontal. A 'nonshielded or noncutoff' fixture, by contrast, is any fixture using adjustable brackets, refracting lenses or an exposed lamp that throws light below 4 degrees above horizontal, and those are the fixtures the ordinance is written to phase out.

The operative shielding rule in § 17-6-300(C)(1)(b) requires that light sources be shielded or installed so there is no direct line of sight between the light source, or its reflection, and any point five feet or higher above the ground on adjacent property or public streets; it separately bars any light source intense enough to cause direct glare, discomfort or annoyance. Section 17-6-300(D)(1)(a)(ii) reinforces the same goal for parking-lot and merchandising-area lighting, requiring fixtures to minimize light trespass and keep the uniformity ratio between average and minimum illumination no worse than 4:1. The rule applies immediately to residential properties and to commercial property abutting residential property, and to any other commercial, industrial or agricultural fixture once 50 percent or more of an existing lighting system is modified or replaced.