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

Richland Municipal Code Chapter 23.58 opens by declaring that its outdoor lighting standards exist to reduce glare, minimize light trespass into public spaces and private property, promote energy conservation, and protect the nighttime character of the desert sky, language that ties the ordinance directly to the high desert setting around the Tri-Cities. The operative shielding rule sits in RMC § 23.58.030(A): every outdoor light fixture installed after the ordinance's enactment must be fully shielded so the center of the light source is level with or above the edge of the fixture, minimizing direct light emitted above the horizontal, or equipped with a refractor that achieves the same result in place of a shield.

The chapter grandfathers fixtures that existed before the ordinance under RMC § 23.58.050(A) and exempts private residential lighting under 1,800 lumens, seasonal displays lit no more than 60 consecutive days, and motion-activated security lights that shut off within 10 minutes. Amortization rules in § 23.58.030(E) pull a grandfathered fixture back into compliance the moment it is modified, moved, or replaced, or when the property undergoes a substantial improvement or change of use. Light-pole height is capped at the nearest streetlight's height, except at sports complexes, and a single solid-color searchlight is allowed only for community events up to three days a year with administrative approval, never between 10:00 p.m. and sunrise or for commercial advertising.

Development Services and the zoning administrator enforce the chapter, and RMC § 23.58.070 gives the city one year from the date of a violation to bring an enforcement action, after which the limitation period bars the claim.