Modesto, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Applies to
- Licensed commercial cannabis uses only
- Lighting standard
- Fully shielded, downward-casting
- Spillover
- Barred onto neighbors or night sky
- Grow lights
- Contained, hidden sunset to sunrise
- Cultivation sites
- Vegetation screening, locking fenced gates
- General lighting code
- None exists outside cannabis chapter
Summary
Modesto has no citywide dark-sky or outdoor-lighting code; the only shielded-lighting and night-sky standard in the Municipal Code sits inside the commercial cannabis chapter. Section 10-3.707(e) requires every licensed cannabis cultivation, dispensary, manufacturing or delivery site to keep its lighting fully shielded and downward-casting, barring light from spilling onto neighboring properties or being visible from those properties between sunset and sunrise.
(e)Lighting. All lighting shall be fully shielded, downward casting and not spill over onto structures, other properties or the night sky. All indoor and mixed light cultivation operations shall be fully contained so that little to no light escapes. Light shall not escape at a level that is visible from neighboring properties between sunset and sunrise.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 71).
Full Breakdown
707, titled Development and Operational Standards, sets the lighting rule for every use listed in the Commercial Cannabis Uses table: indoor and mixed-light cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, testing, retail and delivery. Subsection (e) requires fixtures to be fully shielded and downward-casting, forbids spillover onto structures, adjoining properties or the night sky, and specifically targets grow-light escape by requiring indoor and mixed-light cultivation to be fully contained so that little to no light escapes, with no light visible from neighboring properties between sunset and sunrise. The requirement sits alongside other performance standards in the same section: emissions control for dust and noxious gas at (b), mandatory odor-detecting ventilation with filter-change schedules at (d), stormwater and erosion control plans before grading at (f), and a screening rule at (h) requiring outdoor and mixed-light cultivation sites to be fenced with locking gates and screened by vegetation, while barring razor wire and chain-link.
No parallel lighting-shielding standard appears anywhere else in Title 10; the code's other reference to glare, in the entertainment-permit chapter, addresses amusement-ride lighting reflecting onto residential property, a different subject and a different article. That leaves cannabis operators as the only category of Modesto business bound to a night-sky standard; a homeowner's floodlight or a shopping center's parking-lot pole light is not reached by this or any other lighting-shielding rule in the Municipal Code.
Violations & Fines
A cannabis operator who lets lighting spill onto neighbors or the night sky is out of compliance with its Commercial Cannabis Permit conditions, which section 10-3.712 makes a public nuisance subject to administrative, civil, or criminal enforcement, with each day of the violation billed as a separate offense. The City Manager can also revoke or suspend the permit outright under section 10-3.705 for failing to meet the operational standards in section 10-3.707.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Modesto have a dark-sky or light-pollution ordinance?
What lighting standard must a Modesto cannabis grow follow?
What happens if a cannabis facility's lighting violates the rule?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Modesto
California rules heatmap·Compare Modesto to another location·View the California outdoor lighting overview
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