Pasco, WA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

020 requires all outdoor lighting systems installed in either zone one or zone two, on or after 30 days from the ordinance's effective date, to be shielded so that the edge of the shield is level with or below the center of the light source, so any direct light emitted above the horizontal is minimized. Outdoor lighting fixtures installed in zone two specifically face the same shielding standard within 90 days of enactment. The code treats light direction refractors as light sources for purposes of this rule, closing off a workaround where a fixture uses a refractor instead of a shield.

010: zone one is the area of the City east of a line running from the Columbia River along State Highway 12's east right-of-way to Road 28's east right-of-way, then north to the City limit; zone two is everything else in the City. 040, which bars upward-projected illumination of buildings, signs, and searchlights during the midnight-to-sunrise window. 060 exclusions and do not need retrofitting. 070.