Champaign County, IL Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 6.1.2, Standard Conditions for All SPECIAL USES, is the zoning ordinance's shielded-lighting rule and it applies to every special use permit in unincorporated Champaign County that includes exterior lighting, from data centers to wind farms to solar arrays. Subsection A requires that lighting minimize glare on adjacent properties and roadways through five specific means.

First, every exterior light fixture must be a full-cutoff type, defined in the ordinance as a fixture that emits no light above the horizontal plane, and each fixture must be located and installed to minimize both glare and light trespass onto neighboring land. Second, no lamp may exceed 250 watts, and the County Board can require smaller lamps when it finds that necessary for a particular site. Third, the applicant's site plan, including floor plans and building elevations, must show the location and number of every fixture for Board approval. Fourth, the Board may add conditions on hours of operation or other limits for outdoor recreational uses and other large outdoor lighting installations. Fifth, and most concretely enforced, the Zoning Administrator shall not approve a Zoning Use Permit until the applicant files the manufacturer's documentation proving the full-cutoff feature for every fixture, so paperwork proving the shielding is a hard precondition to occupancy, not a discretionary add-on.