Spalding County, GA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 2207B(F)(5) of the Spalding County Zoning Ordinance, Appendix IV, sets exterior lighting standards for the Tri County Crossing (TCC) Overlay District, the area near the intersection of U.S. Highway 19/41 and Zebulon Road developed under the county's 2009 Livable Centers Initiative plan. Subsection (a) states the goal directly: the criteria exist to create standards for outdoor lighting that provide nighttime safety, security and utility while reducing light pollution and light trespass and increasing conservation of energy, and any lighting for parking areas, access drives or loading areas must minimize ambient glow perceptible from adjacent properties.

Subsection (b) caps the height of any pole-mounted fixture on private property, outside the public right-of-way, at sixteen feet. Subsection (d) requires every pole-mounted fixture to be mounted parallel to the ground, and any building-mounted floodlight must be a direct cutoff type, aimed straight down rather than outward. Subsection (g) applies the same cutoff-luminaire standard to wall fixtures: the light source must be completely concealed inside an opaque housing so it cannot be seen from any street. Two related provisions round out the section: subsection (c) requires accent lighting on building facades to be directed solely onto the structure, never toward the sky, and subsection (f) bans search lights, laser lighting, and any fixture that pulses, flashes, rotates or simulates motion for advertising.

A photometric plan showing this compliance is reviewed as part of the site plan process under Section 2206B before the planning commission and board of commissioners approve development in the TCC Overlay.