Santa Cruz County, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Santa Cruz County does not have a countywide dark-sky or general outdoor-lighting ordinance; the specific shielding standard on the books is written into the zoning code's non-retail commercial cannabis regulations. 650(B)(7), Outside Lighting, requires every application for a non-retail commercial cannabis use or development permit, covering cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution, to include a full outdoor lighting plan for county review and approval before the permit issues. The substantive standard is a directional-shielding mandate: all outdoor lighting at the facility must have its illumination directed downward, or otherwise shielded, so that no glare is projected onto adjacent properties or skyward.

The section goes further for cultivation specifically, prohibiting any lighting used for cultivation purposes, other than lighting reasonably necessary for site security, from being visible at the cultivation site between sunset and sunrise. That night-lighting curfew is meant to prevent supplemental grow lighting from illuminating the rural night sky or spilling onto neighboring parcels, many of which sit in agricultural or Coastal Zone areas. 240. Outside of cannabis facilities, parking lots, and conditioned discretionary permits, a homeowner or business installing ordinary exterior lighting on residentially or commercially zoned land is not subject to a codified glare or shielding standard under Title 13.