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

Section 40.705(G) sets lighting standards for off-street parking facilities in non-residential, multi-family and mixed-use developments. Item iv requires all exterior parking lot lighting fixtures to be fully shielded to prevent nuisance lighting, a term the code defines to include glare, light trespass and skyglow. Skyglow is defined as the adverse effect of brightening of the night sky due to man-made lighting.

Mounting heights are fixed. Pole fixtures within vehicular areas must be mounted between 15 and 25 feet, wall-mounted fixtures at least 10 feet high and never on or past the roofline of a structure, and bollards can light pedestrian areas. Obtrusive spill light and up light must be controlled with efficient luminaires using cut-off optics and shields. Luminaires lighting a parcel adjacent to a residentially zoned parcel can emit no more than 0.5 footcandle at that property line, measured horizontally 6 feet above grade.

Minimum levels apply too. Level 1 areas, meaning sidewalks and other pedestrian areas and multifamily residential, need a minimum horizontal illuminance of 1.0 footcandle. Level 2, nonresidential uses, needs 2.0 footcandles, and the uniformity ratio is capped at 10:1. Parking garages have their own table, with general areas and stairways at 2.0 footcandles, ramps and entrance areas at 1.0, and rooftops at 2.0.

Light poles in new facilities must sit at least 20 feet from the center of a tree. A photometric plan must accompany every Development Review Committee application for site plan approval or amendment, or special exception use, that involves new construction or redevelopment, with footcandle readings in a grid of ten-foot squares measured at grade. Before a certificate of occupancy or completion, a design professional must certify to the Department of Environmental and Engineering Services that the exterior lighting complies.