Dothan, AL Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 114-164(m) sits inside the general standards that apply across every subdistrict of the Highway 84 East Overlay: downtown core, downtown edge, mixed-use 4, mixed-use 3, mixed-use 2 and institutional. The section frames lighting as a tool to enhance visual clarity for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, aid pedestrian orientation, highlight neighborhood identity and support activity in plazas and parks, then sets four operative rules. A hierarchy of lighting types is required to distinguish vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian routes. Fixtures must be scaled to the context of the area rather than oversized for the setting.

Glare must be reduced through appropriate shielding, the overlay's version of a shielded-fixture rule. Color temperature is fixed at warm, yellow tones rather than bright whites, and any lighting that blinks or oscillates is banned outright, covering flashing marquee-style and animated fixtures alike. These lighting rules are reviewed as part of the development plan approval required for all construction in the overlay under Article V; an applicant's site and landscape plans, including exterior lighting layout, go to the Planning and Development Department and, for any requested deviation, to the Dothan Planning Commission under § 114-164(r)(3).

The rule does not set a numeric foot-candle or lumen cap; it instead regulates shielding, color and behavior of fixtures. Because it lives inside the Highway 84 overlay, it binds only development within the mapped overlay boundary along the corridor, not the city's residential districts generally.