Ventura, CA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

030 before installation, so new exterior lighting on a commercial or multifamily project is checked at that stage rather than left to a building-permit-only review. The standard is a performance standard rather than a numeric foot-candle or shielding specification: it directs applicants toward a 'subdued light source' for residential-character settings and toward 'hooded or shielded' fixtures for nonresidential properties, leaving the specific fixture choice to the applicant subject to the director's photometric review. 110, which separately requires off-street parking lighting, other than for single-family, two-family, and small multifamily uses, to be designed so there is no lighting splash beyond the site, and allows the director to require photometric plans for that purpose as well.

Together, the two sections give Community Development authority to reject a lighting plan that throws glare onto a neighboring property or the street, even though the code does not set a specific lumens cap or mandate full cutoff fixtures citywide the way some dark-sky ordinances do.