Dearborn Heights, MI Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 36-443 sits alongside § 36-442's general shielding and light-trespass rules in Article XII, Exterior Lighting, and sets shielding requirements by lamp type rather than by use alone. High-pressure and low-pressure sodium lamps used for street lighting, parking and security areas, sports lighting, and residential security lighting must carry full shielding, as must filtered metal halide lamps used in enclosed luminaires for sign, display, and sports lighting, and fluorescent and incandescent-over-100-watt lamps used for residential and sign lighting. Incandescent lamps under 100 watts or 1,700 lumens used for porch lighting and other low-wattage residential purposes need no shielding, and any light source of 50 watts or less, along with neon, argon, and krypton display tubes, is exempt outright.

Other lamp types not listed are subject to administrative review by the city rather than an automatic standard. Read together with § 36-442, the shielding table works with the fixture-orientation rule requiring lights to be focused downward, the 0.5 foot-candle light-trespass ceiling at the property line, the requirement that non-essential lighting be switched off after business hours, and the height limits in § 36-444 capping nonresidential fixtures at twenty feet and parking-lot fixtures at fifteen feet. Together these provisions function as the city's dark-sky standard: nearly every commercial, security, and sports lighting fixture in the city must be a full cut-off type aimed downward, leaving only small residential and decorative fixtures unshielded.