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

040 applies whenever a project needs a building permit or Title 19 permit, or whenever exterior lighting is added, replaced or altered. Every outdoor fixture must be fully shielded and directed downward and away from adjacent properties and rights-of-way, with narrow exceptions for low-voltage landscape uplighting under 10 watts or 150 lumens, architectural feature uplighting, approved public art lighting, historic fixtures and compliant string lighting. All light sources are capped at a maintained correlated color temperature of 3,000 Kelvin or less. or when people leave the exterior area, whichever is later; exceptions cover code-required entrance and driveway lighting, conditional-use-permitted late-night lighting, and low-level solar pathway lights of 25 lumens or less.

Security lighting must be shielded, downward-directed, capped at a 12-foot mounting height and controlled by a programmable motion sensor, and floodlights are banned outright regardless of use. Parking-lot lights in non-residential zones cap out at 21 feet and wall-mounted fixtures at 12 feet. The chapter's stated purpose is to reduce bird mortality and light pollution and its effects on the night sky and human health.