Stonecrest, GA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 5.6.1(B) of the Stonecrest Zoning Ordinance regulates every outdoor light fixture in every zoning district, not just those covered by the professional lighting plan requirement that applies to non-single-family developments of three acres or more. Subsection B.2 requires fixtures to 'include glare shields to limit direct rays onto adjacent residential properties,' and B.3 goes further: every fixture must be a cutoff luminarie whose light source is 'completely concealed with an opaque housing,' recessed rather than exposed, and the ordinance flatly prohibits drop dish refractors.

B.4 restricts the light source itself to LED, metal halide, or color-corrected high-pressure sodium, capped at an average of 4.5 footcandles across a parking area, with a single light-source type required per site and fixtures mounted so the light cone never points across a property line. B.5 sets pole height: a 12-foot minimum and a 25-foot maximum, excluding a three-foot base. Table 5.7 pairs these fixture rules with numeric ceilings, a 10.0 maximum footcandle level for nonresidential and multifamily parking lots, walkways, and loading areas, and 5.0 for landscaped areas.

Any site requiring five or more fixtures, and any non-single-family development of three acres or more, must submit a lighting plan under subsection C documenting fixture photometrics, mounting details, and an illumination summary before the director of planning signs off.