Palm Beach Gardens, FL Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 78-182(c)(1) of the Palm Beach Gardens Code sets the shielding standards Growth Management checks against every lighting plan submitted with a building permit. Freestanding light poles located within 100 feet of a residential zoning district, or the residential portion of a planned unit or planned community development, must use a cutoff luminaire or equivalent fixture with a maximum light angle of 90 degrees, the cutoff design that keeps the bulb's glow from spilling sideways past the pole. Any fixture, of any type, located within 25 feet of a residential district must additionally carry a house shield or equivalent, a hood that blocks the light source from view at an angle rather than just aiming the beam downward.

Flood lights and security lighting, whether pole-mounted or wall-mounted, cannot be directed toward a residential district under any circumstance, a flat rule with no distance threshold attached. These shielding rules sit inside the same section that sets the city's foot-candle ceilings in Table 1 and the 0.5 foot-candle spillover cap onto residential property, so a fixture can fail section 78-182 either by exceeding the numeric brightness limit or by lacking the physical shielding hardware this subsection requires. The rules apply citywide to commercial, multi-family, and mixed-use lighting plans; single-family homes are exempted from the city approval process for accent uplighting as long as the light does not spill glare onto a neighboring residential lot.