Stafford County, VA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Stafford County Code § 28-87 sets outdoor lighting standards meant to cut down glare, light trespass, over-lighting and skyglow while still keeping businesses and residents safe. Subsection (b) applies the standards to all new commercial, industrial and residential outdoor lighting, and to any fixture replacement, defined as a changed fixture type on a redeveloped site or a 25 percent or greater increase in output when a whole lighting scheme is swapped out; routine bulb or lens changes that don't raise output don't count. Under subsection (c)(2), full cut-off and fully shielded fixtures are the baseline requirement everywhere in the county.

The only exemptions are fixtures fitted with internal or external glare-control louvers installed to minimize uplight and off-site trespass, fixtures aimed so no more than five percent of emitted light projects above the horizontal, and the architectural and landscape lighting covered separately in subsection (g). Subsection (c)(3) bars flashing, revolving or intermittent lighting visible from a property line or street, plus high-intensity search lights, lasers or strobes unless they're part of a security system. Lighting fixtures installed before the September 3, 2013 amendment are grandfathered as nonconforming, but any fixture modified during a redevelopment or a full lighting-scheme replacement must be brought up to the current standards.

Anyone installing outdoor lighting as part of a site, subdivision or construction plan must submit a point-to-point photometric plan prepared by a certified lighting professional or a licensed Virginia engineer, architect, landscape architect or surveyor, documenting fixture type, mounting height, wattage and aiming before the county will approve the plan.