Sandy, UT Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 21-23-11, Lighting, governs how commercial, office, and industrial developments illuminate their sites. Reflectors, spotlights, floodlights, and similar fixtures may be used to light buildings, landscaping, signs, parking, and loading areas, but only if they carry proper lenses or other devices that concentrate the illumination on the intended target rather than scattering it. The core dark-sky control is the Light Spill provision: no unshielded light, reflector, spotlight, strobe light, or search light may be positioned so it points toward or is directly visible from a public right-of-way, and every fixture must be shielded and aimed downward so light does not cross the property line.

The code goes further than a general shielding mandate by naming a specific fixture type as flatly prohibited: unshielded, exterior wall-mounted floodlights, commonly called wall packs, cannot be used at all. Light intensity must also be controlled so neighboring properties are not adversely affected by glare or excessive brightness. The section separately requires pole-mounted fixtures for parking lot lighting and mandates lighting along pedestrian pathways, while building and site-identification sign lighting is allowed. Fixture and standard locations must be shown on the site development drawings reviewed by the Community Development Department, and the code encourages color-corrected high-pressure sodium, or white light, fixtures.