Barrow County, GA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 89-1526, part of Division 6's dark-sky compliance requirements, defines the four outdoor lighting problems the county regulates: glare, light trespass, skyglow and wildlife disorientation. Light trespass is defined as light distributed onto areas where illumination is not wanted, the ordinance noting that light intruding into neighboring homes and properties can keep people awake at night and destroy their sense of privacy. Section 89-1527 then applies that definition through concrete fixture standards. Security lighting specifically must be directed toward the targeted area, meaning a business cannot aim a security light so that it spills across a property line onto a neighbor, and no security fixture may be mounted more than 20 feet above grade.

This 20-foot cap sits alongside the section's broader rules that all outdoor lighting in the district be fully shielded with full cutoff fixtures so that neither direct nor reflected light can create a traffic hazard for drivers on public roads, and that no colored light be used in a way that could be mistaken for a traffic control device. 5 footcandles abutting any other use, the mechanism the Planning and Community Development Director uses to catch light-trespass problems before a permit issues. These trespass and security-lighting rules apply only inside the mapped D211 boundary described in Sec. 89-1503; a light-trespass dispute between neighbors elsewhere in unincorporated Barrow County is not addressed by this article.