New Berlin, WI Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 275-60 I of the Code of Ordinances sets New Berlin's outdoor lighting standard as part of the zoning performance standards. General provisions bar exterior lighting used for parking lots, signage, recreational facilities, product display or security from spilling over onto drivers, pedestrians and neighboring land, though the rule exempts lighting placed in a public right-of-way for public safety. Fixtures must be shielded luminaries or use cutoff optics, and they have to be oriented so the lighting element or its transparent shield never throws rays onto a neighboring property, into a street right-of-way, or upward into the atmosphere.

Parking, loading and circulation areas used after sunset need artificial illumination, though that requirement does not reach agricultural and single-family residential properties. 0-footcandle ceiling under the same ratios. 5 footcandle. Fixtures top out at 25 feet measured to the bottom of the luminaire, cannot sit inside a required buffer yard, and flashing or flickering lighting that could distract drivers is prohibited outright, as is any lighting that becomes a public nuisance. Accent and low-voltage lighting of 12 volts or less, including decorative residential post lights, is exempt from the whole section, and lighting approved before the chapter's adoption is treated as legal nonconforming.