Gainesville, FL Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 30-6.12.D.1 of the Land Development Code sets the city's outdoor-lighting design standards for multifamily, nonresidential, institutional and recreational properties; single-family and two-family homes are exempt under Section 30-6.12.C.1. Fixture placement, wattage, orientation and mounting height must maximize efficient light use while minimizing light trespass, light pollution and glare, including light projected skyward or beyond the object being lit. Fixtures with directional optics near property boundaries must be oriented to minimize glare onto neighboring parcels.

Lighting aimed at horizontal surfaces, such as parking lots and walkways, must use fully shielded, full-cutoff fixtures aimed downward. Lighting aimed at non-horizontal surfaces, such as building facades, must be designed and aimed so it does not spill skyward, onto a public roadway, or onto adjacent uses. The maximum mounting height for area lighting is capped at 30 feet when the fixture sits within 75 feet of a single-family use or single-family zoning district, and sites cannot exceed an average vertical illuminance of 0.5 footcandles measured five feet above the tallest luminaire's mounting height. Automatic controls must extinguish outdoor lighting once daylight is sufficient, except for parking-structure interiors, and property owners are encouraged, though not required, to cut lighting output by up to half after a site closes for the night.

Search lights, flood lights, lasers, exposed light sources, and any lighting that pulses, flashes, rotates or simulates motion are prohibited outright, with narrow exceptions only for police, fire, utility, medical, aircraft-warning or meteorological use. The code states plainly that no exceptions or variances shall be permitted for that prohibition.