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

Yucaipa's Development Code handles outdoor light through direction, shielding and glare limits spread across several sections. The parking rule is Section 87.0605(f), one of the minimum design standards for off-street parking facilities: all parking area lighting shall reflect light and glare away from public thoroughfares and any adjacent residences. Sign lighting has its own shielding test in Section 87.0705(c). Except for time and temperature components and electronic message signs, signs can be lit only by steady, stationary, shielded light directed only at the sign, by light inside the sign, or by direct neon lighting, and the glare from that source cannot exceed one half (0.5) footcandle.

Section 87.0710(h) prohibits any sign that is not effectively shielded to prevent beams or rays of light being directed at any portion of the traveled way, or that is bright enough to cause glare or impair the vision of a motor vehicle driver. Section 87.0710(g) separately bars signs and support structures with flashing neon elements. Electronic billboards along Interstate 10 follow the light-output cap in Section 87.0725(c)(5)(C) instead of the general sign rule. Industrial land carries the numeric spill limit in Section 87.0920(b): an activity in a Community Industrial or Regional Industrial District must be carried on so that direct or indirect light from the source does not cause glare above 0.5 foot candles when measured in a Residential District or lot.

Under Section 87.0920(a), glare is measured with a photoelectric photometer following the standard spectral luminous efficiency curve adopted by the International Commission on Illumination. Chapter 9 of the Development Code, where the glare rule sits, states that performance standards are designed to mitigate environmental impacts including noise, air quality, glare, heat and waste disposal, and that the chapter applies to residential, institutional, commercial and industrial land uses.