Barrow County, GA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Division 6 of Article XV, titled 'Dark Skies Compliance Required,' opens with a legislative finding in Sec. 89-1525 that Barrow County's night sky has slowly diminished from unnecessary light and glare, naming skyglow, light trespass and glare as the pollution problems the ordinance targets. Section 89-1527 turns that finding into standards that apply to any outdoor lighting used for parking areas, landscaping, residences, buildings or recreational areas inside the D211 boundary. Fixtures must be fully shielded with full cutoff, downlit fixtures using an opaque shield so no light passes through it.

No blinking, flashing or fluttering light, and no fixture over 12 feet in height, is allowed anywhere in the district except county-owned streetlights or temporary holiday displays required by other regulations. Only CFL or LED lighting sources are permitted; incandescent and other bulb types described elsewhere in the county's separate Highway Corridor Overlay lighting rules do not qualify here. Special use permits can impose even more restrictive lighting conditions on a specific property. 5 footcandles next to any other use. Because Article XV covers only the mapped D211 corridors along Highway 124, Old Victron Road, Covered Bridge Road and the other roads listed in Sec. 89-1503, these fixture and height standards do not extend to lighting elsewhere in unincorporated Barrow County.