Bellflower, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Bellflower does not adopt a stand-alone dark-sky or outdoor-lighting ordinance with lumen caps, color-temperature limits, or curfew hours like some rural California jurisdictions. Instead, the Bellflower Municipal Code addresses outdoor lighting through glare-and-shielding provisions embedded in its zoning chapters. For example, in the M-1 Light Industrial District (Chapter 17.52) and the Open Space Zoning District (Chapter 17.64), exterior lighting must be arranged and shielded so as to prevent glare on adjacent properties or highways. The Development Review standards (Chapter 17.80) direct the city to prevent structures and improvements that would cause undue glare or noise impacts on adjacent properties, and to protect the privacy and sunlight of neighbors. For illuminated signs (Chapter 17.68), the Director may require a photometrics plan to confirm that all light and glare are shielded or directed away from adjacent properties or highways. Temporary uses are likewise regulated to prevent glare or direct illumination on adjacent properties. The practical standard across the code is consistent: exterior lighting must be shielded and directed so it does not spill glare onto neighbors or roadways. Because there is no numeric dark-sky standard, residential lighting questions are handled case by case through these glare and development-review provisions.