Elyria, OH Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

The lighting rule sits in § 1175.08, Parking Facilities; Development and Maintenance, of the Elyria Planning and Zoning Code. The section applies to every parcel of land hereafter used as a public or private parking area, and subsection K governs the lights themselves.

Three requirements are printed. Lights used to illuminate roadways, parking areas and service areas shall be arranged to direct the light away from the adjacent properties and rights-of-way. The maximum height of a light pole device shall not exceed twenty-five feet. The light lens shall be parallel to the ground and have no sidewall. Together these set the fixture geometry: a flat lens with no sidewall, aimed away from the lot line, on a pole of limited height. The code never uses the words dark sky, and § 1175.08(K) prints no lumen, color temperature or footcandle figure.

Neighbors get other protections in the same section. Any parking area for more than five vehicles and any parking lot within one hundred feet of a residential district must be suitably paved (§ 1175.08(A)). All parking facilities for more than five vehicles must be screened by a landscaping strip of not less than five feet when abutting a residential, POD or COS District (§ 1175.08(F)). Where a lot extends to a property line, fencing, wheel stops, curbs or other suitable barriers must keep any part of a parked vehicle from extending beyond it (§ 1175.08(E)).

Two other lighting rules in the Zoning Code have numbers or targets of their own. Uses in a Technology Park District cannot cause illumination at or beyond any residence district boundary in excess of 0.1 footcandle (§ 1170.14(C)(3)), and off-premises sign lighting must be effectively shielded from the traveled ways (§ 1173.10(C)). The 25 foot pole cap and the downward-facing lens in § 1175.08(K) are the parking-lot standard.