Bossier City, LA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 12.6.1 states the purpose plainly: eliminate spillover light and glare affecting drivers, pedestrians and nearby land uses, and protect property values from the nuisance of glare. Section 12.6.2 exempts public street lights (still subject to Louisiana DOTD and City or Parish standards), most residential and farm uses, and holiday lighting, but residential spotlights or floodlights that glare onto a neighbor's property are still prohibited, and parking lots serving residential uses stay covered. Parks, open space and outdoor recreation uses answer only to the separate sports-lighting standard in Section 12.6.5.

Before installing outdoor lighting or whenever Site Plan Review applies, Section 12.6.3 requires submission of a lighting plan to the Executive Director showing every fixture location, lamp type and size. Section 12.6.4 sets the operative rule for every other nonresidential occupancy: all fixtures must be cut-off fixtures that keep light from being visible or measurable at the property line, and any non-cut-off fixture is restricted to decorative purposes using incandescent sources of 100 watts or less. A fixture that exceeds 30 feet in height, or that proposes more than 400 watts or more than 4 luminaires per pole, cannot be installed as of right; it must go before the Planning Commission for Conditional Use approval under Section 3.3.2, which reviews the impact on all surrounding uses before signing off.