Santa Fe, NM Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

9 exists, in the code's own words, to regulate outdoor lighting in order to reduce light pollution, reduce or prevent glare, reduce or prevent light trespass, conserve energy, promote a sense of safety and security and ensure aesthetically appropriate outdoor lighting. It reaches every new outdoor luminaire on private or city property, including street lighting, though fixtures lawfully installed before the section took effect are grandfathered until they're replaced. 9-1 requires shielding on low-pressure sodium, high-pressure sodium, metal halide, and fluorescent, quartz-halogen or incandescent lamps over 160 watts per luminaire; incandescent lamps of 160 watts or less, neon and similar gas-tube lighting, and any light of 50 watts or less are exempt from shielding.

Mercury vapor lighting is allowed only for landscape lighting and capped at 100 watts per luminaire. 9(D)(3) bars nuisance glare onto adjacent properties or streets to the greatest extent practicable and flatly prohibits disabling glare. 9(D)(4): it must be aimed at the building or object, never toward the sky or onto neighboring property, and the direct light can't be visible above the roofline or beyond the building's edge. 9-2, which sets lower maximum footcandle levels for residential areas than for commercial ones on sidewalks and pedestrian areas, and construction-permit applications for new or replacement lighting must include luminaire plans, manufacturer shielding data and photometric data unless every lamp is 160 watts or less.