York County, VA Outdoor Lighting: Dark Sky Rules (2026)

Sec. 24.1-260(f) governs site lighting for new or modified land uses in York County: any outdoor fixture over 3,000 initial lumens must be a full cut-off luminaire, designed to IESNA standards, so it doesn't throw unreasonable or objectionable glare onto adjacent rights-of-way and properties. High-pressure sodium or metal halide lighting is the county's preferred fixture type, while mercury vapor lighting is discouraged except for under-canopy lighting at gas pumps or drive-through lanes. The zoning administrator measures the 3,000-lumen threshold by wattage: incandescent and quartz halogen bulbs up to 160 watts, fluorescent up to 35 watts, mercury vapor up to 75 watts, metal halide up to 40 watts, high-pressure sodium up to 45 watts, and low-pressure sodium up to 25 watts are all deemed under the cutoff and exempt from the full cut-off rule.

Also exempt: temporary construction, agricultural, emergency, or holiday lighting; flag lighting; security lights on sensors that run 15 minutes or less; replacement lamps in fixtures installed before the section took effect; architectural or landscape accent lighting aimed to avoid spillover; and public streetlights consistent with the Board of Supervisors' street light policy. The zoning administrator can also approve a modification for athletic field lighting that can't reasonably meet the standard, or for decorative colonial-style cutoff fixtures with a fully recessed lamp, if the alternative achieves an equivalent result.