Madera County, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Despite the county's proximity to the dark skies of the Sierra foothills and Yosemite, the Madera County Zoning Code does not contain a dedicated dark-sky or general outdoor lighting ordinance for ordinary residential and rural properties. A review of Title 18 shows no lighting chapter; the only express lighting standards are narrow. Section 18.90.150 (Illumination and moving parts) provides that signs may not contain moving parts or be illuminated by intermittent light, that only on-premises and off-premises signs may be illuminated in commercial, industrial, and institutional zones, and that in residential and agricultural zones only signs displaying a property address may be illuminated. Separately, the Land Use Regulations chapter (Section 18.88) requires that exterior lighting associated with an emergency shelter be located, adequately shielded, and directed so that no direct light falls outside the property perimeter or into the public right-of-way. For most other uses, lighting and glare are not pre-regulated by fixed standards; instead, Chapter 18.92 conditional use permit findings require that a proposed use not be a nuisance 'by reason of noise, dust, smoke, odor, glare, or other similar factors,' giving the county discretion to condition lighting on a project-by-project basis. Property owners interested in dark-sky-friendly lighting should follow voluntary best practices (fully shielded, downward-directed, warm-color fixtures), since the county currently relies on discretionary review rather than a mandatory dark-sky code.