Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

20, covering the Knik-Fairview area) around buffering standards meant to separate residential land from new large-scale commercial and heavy industrial development. 070 requires that exterior lighting on affected parcels be located and shielded to direct light toward the ground, and it singles out street illumination and any other fixture mounted higher than 20 feet for mandatory downward directional shielding. The rule sits alongside the district's other Table 1 buffers, including native-vegetation screening, privacy fencing capped at eight feet, and a 20-foot vegetative buffer along commercial and industrial property lines, showing the shielding requirement is part of a broader effort to keep large-scale development from spilling glare, noise, and visual impact onto neighboring residential parcels.

The Planning and Land Use Department director retains limited discretion to allow directed exterior illumination, but only after finding that personal security, special security needs, emergency services needs, or public safety concerns justify it, weighing site characteristics and the level of vehicle and pedestrian conflict. This is a Knik-district-specific rule, not a borough-wide dark-sky ordinance: Title 17 zoning has no area-wide lighting-shielding standard, and Wasilla, Palmer, and Houston each control lighting within their own city limits rather than through MSB Title 17.