Brockton, MA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Sec. 27-155(3)(a), part of the design standards for the TSSGOD created under Ord. No. c. 40R, states that lighting shall not create overspill onto adjacent properties, a light trespass standard that runs alongside the companion night-sky restriction in the same clause. Subsection (b) then carves out an exception: uplighting is permitted, but only to light entrances, site signage or architectural features, so a fixture aimed to wash a neighbor's fence line or yard would not fall inside that carve-out. Subsection (c) separately encourages lighting sidewalks and paths connecting buildings, public spaces and parking areas, distinguishing site amenity lighting from the overspill restriction in (a).

The TSSGOD sits alongside other Brockton smart growth overlay districts, including the Main Street/North Main Street corridor (MCMOD), whose own general development standards in Sec. 27-181(b)(7) separately require lighting to meet IESNA design guidelines while preventing glare and overspill onto adjoining properties, showing the light trespass language in the TSSGOD is part of a broader design-standards pattern the city applies to its overlay districts rather than an isolated clause. Because the TSSGOD provision is a site plan design standard, a proposed lighting plan showing spillover onto a neighboring lot is reviewed and can be rejected at the site plan approval stage under the approving authority's review of the development project.