Everett, WA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

310(C) sets binding lighting standards for development inside the Central Waterfront Planning Area shown on the code's Map 9-3, an overlay covering the LI and HI zones along the waterfront. All publicly accessible areas must be lit to an average minimum of one-half foot-candle and a maximum of four foot-candles in high-volume pedestrian areas and building entries. Parking-area fixtures must be full cut-off (zero percent candlepower at 90 degrees horizontal, no more than 10 percent candlepower at 80 degrees from vertical), dark-sky rated, and mounted no higher than 30 feet, with lower mounting preferred to keep a human scale.

Parking lighting within 300 feet of residentially zoned land must sit on standards no taller than 20 feet, or the height of any intervening building, whichever is taller. Pedestrian-scale fixtures of 15 feet or less are encouraged near foot traffic. Light sources cannot be visible at the property line, building lights must aim onto the building or the ground next to it, emissions cannot show above the roofline, and wall-mounted parking-lot lighting on buildings is flatly prohibited. Any permit application that includes site lighting must submit a lighting plan showing compliance before approval, reviewed by the planning department.

09, Urban Development Standards, and only bind projects within the mapped Central Waterfront area; industrial or commercial lighting elsewhere in the LI/HI zones is not held to this dark-sky test.