Albemarle County, VA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

4(b) applies a light-trespass limit to every parcel except one holding only single-family detached dwellings. The first standard is numeric: spillover from outdoor luminaires onto public roads and onto property in residential or Rural Areas zoning districts cannot exceed one-half foot candle, a measurement taken both horizontally and vertically at the property line, at the edge of the right-of-way, or at the edge of an easement, whichever point sits closest to the light source. The second standard is directional: regardless of how many lumens a fixture emits, all outdoor lighting on the covered parcel must be arranged or shielded to reflect light away from adjoining residential districts and away from adjacent roads.

Together the two standards mean a commercial or multifamily property cannot simply meet the full cutoff fixture requirement in Sec. 4(a); it must also aim and, where necessary, shield its fixtures so a homeowner or driver on the other side of the property line is not lit up. The zoning administrator in the Department of Community Development reviews compliance during site plan review under Sec. 32 and can require a lighting plan showing photometric spillover at the property line before issuing approval. As with the full cutoff standard, the Board of Supervisors can modify or waive the spillover limit under Sec. 5 only after finding the standard would not serve the ordinance's purposes and after five days' written notice to abutting owners.