Fort Myers, FL Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Florida Statute 161.163 directs the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to designate coastal areas used by sea turtles for nesting and to establish guidelines (codified at Florida Administrative Code Chapter 62B-55, Model Lighting Ordinance for Marine Turtle Protection) for local governments controlling beachfront lighting. Local sea turtle lighting ordinances are required of jurisdictions with Gulf or Atlantic beachfront on the FWC nesting list. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) maintains the official list of jurisdictions with adopted sea turtle protection ordinances at myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/lighting/ordinances/; Lee County is on the list (with Sanibel, Captiva, Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Springs, and Estero having local ordinances), but the City of Fort Myers itself is not. The City of Fort Myers sits inland on the Caloosahatchee River (a federally navigable waterway emptying into the Gulf approximately 15 miles downstream at Sanibel) and has no Gulf-beach frontage; sea turtles do not nest within the city limits. Within the city, outdoor lighting for new and redeveloped commercial and multifamily projects is governed by Chapter 118 of the Fort Myers Code of Ordinances (Land Use Regulations) through the site plan review process administered by Fort Myers Community Development. Single-family residential outdoor lighting is not subject to a stand-alone city-wide cutoff, shielding, or color-temperature ordinance, but may be cited as a nuisance under Chapter 54 if it constitutes a public-nuisance light trespass. The city has not adopted an International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) lighting code. Properties along the Caloosahatchee that may be visible from coastal sea-turtle nesting areas downstream do not trigger the FWC ordinance framework because the statutory trigger is direct beachfront visibility on a designated nesting beach.