Santa Cruz County, CA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

060(C) governs lighting design for off-street parking and circulation areas serving any development other than single-family homes in the unincorporated county. Subsection (C)(1) requires all site, building, security, and landscape lighting to be directed onto the site and away from adjacent properties so it does not cause annoying glare or illumination, and specifically bars light sources from being visible from adjacent properties; shielding may come from landscaping, structures, or fixture design, and building and security lighting must be integrated into the building design rather than added as glare-producing add-ons.

Subsection (C)(2) caps lighted parking and circulation areas at low-rise standards or building-mounted fixtures, with a hard 15-foot maximum height for light standards, and (C)(3) requires area lighting to meet the California Green Building Standards Code and California Energy Code outdoor lighting requirements. 16 (parking and circulation standards), so it applies whenever a non-residential, multifamily, or mixed-use project installs parking-lot or site lighting, not to single-family homes lighting their own yards. 344(A)(6) bars any direct or sky-reflected glare "detectable by the human senses without the aid of instruments" beyond the site boundary in M-1 or beyond the district boundary in M-2, a zero-tolerance rule rather than a directional/shielding standard. 10 SCCC, which lets the approving body impose exterior lighting conditions on discretionary permits.