Bradenton, FL Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Light spilling onto a neighbor is measured, not judged by eye, under Land Use Regulations § 7.2.3. The total illumination caused by all of a property's outdoor lighting, including light sources, diffraction, and reflections from on-site objects, cannot illuminate another property in excess of two limits. The first is 0.2 foot-candles on property with outdoor lighting protected areas, not including street rights-of-way. The second is 1.5 foot-candles on street rights-of-way, because the code treats such limited coincidental illumination of a street as not a nuisance to people using the street.

Other Chapter 7.0 rules back up the numbers. Under § 7.4.1, every fixture within 100 feet of another property that has an outdoor lighting protected area cannot exceed 20 feet in height, and § 7.3.1 warns that preventing spill illumination can require lower heights than the limit, based on the lighting plan calculations. Accent lights on architectural features, landscaping or art cannot directly illuminate protected areas and must terminate on opaque surfaces within the property (§ 7.6.2). Boat dock and marina lights need shields to prevent spill illumination beyond the property.

Proof is built into permitting. A lighting plan must accompany applications for site improvement permits, parking lot permits, and approval of non-residential, multi-family and common residential development, and it must show fixture locations, shielding details and direct illumination plots for each fixture. The Planning and Community Development director can require a photometric diagram, prepared by a lighting engineer, when a fixture sits within 80 horizontal feet of the property line of a protected area or street, or a projection reaches within ten horizontal feet, or a fixture higher than 20 vertical feet sits within 600 horizontal feet. The diagram plots foot-candles at a height of five feet above ground to the nearest tenth, on ten-foot grid intervals, across a 100 foot radius. Illuminated signs must also not cast direct light on adjacent properties under § 5.5.8.2.