West Jordan, UT Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Section 13-12-7, Design Standards, governs every off-street parking lot built in West Jordan and applies in all zones, not just to a single overlay district. Subsection E states plainly that lights illuminating a parking lot must reflect away from neighboring lots and be shielded to reduce or eliminate uplighting, and it sets a hard one foot-candle ceiling measured at the property line, the standard that keeps glare and sky glow off adjacent land. Pole height is tiered by proximity to housing: fixtures, including lamp, pole and base, are capped at 15 feet within 150 feet of a residential district, rise to 25 feet in nonresidential districts generally, and can reach 42 feet only inside the SC-2 and SC-3 Commercial Zones.

The parking chapter traces back to 2001 Code section 89-3-307 and has been amended repeatedly, most recently through Ordinance 26-04 of February 10, 2026. Beyond parking lots, West Jordan layers stricter, district-specific lighting on top of this baseline. Inside the Transit Station Overlay District, section 13-6G-16 requires street lighting shielded to prevent both uplighting and light escape, while the Interchange Overlay Zone design standards at section 13-6K-5-1(D) go further and require streetlights and business or housing lighting to be dark sky compliant and directed downward.

Those overlay rules apply only within their mapped boundaries; the section 13-12-7(E) parking standard is the citywide baseline that applies to every commercial, office and multi-family lot regardless of zone. Site plans submitted for development plan review are checked against these lighting standards before a building permit issues, and a photometric plan showing fixture cutoff and foot-candle readings at the property line is the usual way applicants demonstrate compliance.