Fort Wayne UDO Chapter 157 requires full-cutoff fixtures for new commercial and multi-family lighting. Residential exempt from cutoff requirement but subject to light trespass rules. No formal dark-sky ordinance; commercial parking lot lighting capped at specific foot-candle levels at property lines.
Fort Wayne regulates outdoor lighting primarily for commercial and multi-family properties under UDO Section 157. Parking lot and facade lighting must use full-cutoff (IES cutoff rating) fixtures directing light downward. Light levels at residential property lines cannot exceed 0.5 foot-candle; at non-residential boundaries, 1.0 foot-candle. Maximum mounting heights: 20 feet in districts adjacent to residential; 30 feet elsewhere. Residential single-family lighting is not subject to cutoff requirements but must not create nuisance glare onto neighbors (see light-trespass). Fort Wayne is not an International Dark Sky Community and has no formal astronomical preservation ordinance, but general spillover limits effectively reduce skyglow.
Non-compliant commercial fixture: 250-1,000 dollars plus retrofit. Repeat violations escalate. CO withheld for non-compliant new construction.
Fort Wayne, IN
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See how Fort Wayne's dark sky rules rules stack up against other locations.
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