Sierra County, CA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass (2026)

The Sierra County Code (current through Ordinance 1145, April 2026) contains no outdoor-lighting or light-trespass standard. There is no numeric foot-candle limit at property lines, no required shielding, and no fixture-aiming rule anywhere in the Zoning title (Title 15) or in the otherwise-reserved Street Lights chapter (SCC 8.80). Because the county has not adopted lighting performance standards, light trespass - light from one property shining onto a neighbor's - is not regulated by a dedicated ordinance. The only potentially applicable tool is the county's general public-nuisance definition in SCC 8.20.030 (Ord. 748), which defines a nuisance as anything injurious to health, offensive to the senses of the average reasonable person, or that obstructs the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property. In an extreme case - for example, an intense, persistent floodlight aimed directly into a neighbor's bedroom - a complainant could ask the county to evaluate the situation under this nuisance standard or pursue a private nuisance claim in civil court. However, because there is no objective lighting metric in the code, outcomes are discretionary and fact-specific. Neighbors are usually best served by first communicating directly, then voluntarily shielding or re-aiming fixtures, adding timers or motion sensors, and reducing brightness. For authoritative guidance, contact the Sierra County Planning Department or Code Enforcement.