Chelan County, WA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

040 lists the minimum standards a project must meet before Community Development approves a site plan or building permit. Subsection (7), titled 'Dark Sky,' applies to all development within the Manson UGA and sets five specific conditions the county checks during permit review. First, exterior lighting must be used in a manner that minimizes light pollution generally. Second, every fixture must be fully shielded and downward-projecting, with an opaque shield so that no light can pass through it directly rather than being aimed or diffused outward.

Third, where a site uses multiple lights for pedestrian or traffic purposes, they must be arranged to provide even illumination instead of leaving bright spots and dark gaps along a walkway or driveway. Fourth, lights cannot be positioned in a way that lets their glare or beam trespass onto a neighboring property, a standard staff compare against submitted fixture information on the site plan. Fifth, within the UR1, UR2 and UR3 residential districts specifically, no sign or fixture may blink, flash or flutter, and the code carves out only one exception: temporary holiday displays.

290, its off-street parking reductions for transit dedications, and its cap limiting a pre-2018 single-family home's rebuilt footprint to one hundred twenty percent of the original. 040 was most recently amended by Resolution 2021-95 on July 27, 2021.