Yakima, WA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

The rule sits in Chapter 15.08 (Signs) of Title 15, which the city codifies as the Yakima urban area zoning ordinance, enacted and administered by the city of Yakima for lands and uses inside the city limits of Yakima, Yakima County, Washington. Section 15.08.075(A) sets the baseline: no temporary or portable sign may be illuminated, and no sign in a residential zone may be illuminated, with one exception. On parcels two acres in size or greater, signs may be halo illuminated or lit as necessary for allowable digital signs. Permanent signs elsewhere can be nonilluminated, internally lit, halo lit, or have external indirect illumination, unless the chapter says otherwise.

The shielding standard is in subsection (B). Externally illuminated signs must use steady, stationary, fully shielded light sources directed solely onto the sign without causing glare. The shield has to keep the lamp or light source out of view beyond the premises and keep the light contained within the sign face. A fixture mounted above the sign face can tilt its bottom opening toward the sign only if the opening is flat and its uppermost portion sits no higher than the top of the sign face. A fixture installed that way counts as fully shielded.

Internally lit signs follow subsection (C). They need an opaque background with translucent text and symbols. Electronic message centers must keep the difference between off and solid-message readings to 0.3 footcandles at night, measured with the recommended ISA methodology, and must carry a sensor that dims the display automatically to ambient light. Subsection (D) excludes billboards, which are regulated under YMC § 15.08.130.

Two companion provisions reach the same problem. Section 15.08.070(I) requires any exterior lighting on a sign to be shielded and directed away from adjoining streets or residential uses, and 15.08.070(E) requires lighting directed on or internal to a sign to be shaded, screened, or directed so its intensity does not adversely affect neighboring property or motor vehicle safety. Section 15.09.050(D), the glare performance standard, adds that no use shall produce a strong dazzling light, or reflection of one, beyond its lot lines. Parking lot lighting has its own separate provision in Chapter 15.06.