Warwick, RI Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

2(a)(3), part of the City Centre Warwick design regulations for alterations and enlargements of existing buildings, states: 'All exterior lighting shall be designed to minimize negative impacts on neighboring properties. Night sky pollution shall be controlled by downshaded lighting or shielded lighting. All lighting shall be based upon a pedestrian scale appropriate for the City Centre Warwick setting. 3(a)(12) repeats the identical standard for new construction within the CCW, so the shielding and downshading requirement applies to both retrofits of existing buildings and brand-new projects in the district.

F. Green Airport and the planned intermodal transit hub, not the city's residential neighborhoods generally. 1: the planning department's administrative officer or the planning board evaluates lighting design alongside massing, materials, and landscaping before issuing design approval, and no building permit for CCW construction or alteration can issue without that approval. Outside the CCW boundary, Warwick's zoning ordinance does not impose a comparable shielding or downshading requirement on residential or commercial lighting installations elsewhere in the city.