Chapel Hill, NC Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 5.11.4, Offsite Illumination, is the numeric backbone of Chapel Hill's outdoor lighting standards in the Land Use Management Ordinance. It measures light trespass, not by fixture height or type, but by the actual increase in light landing on the neighboring property at ground level. A development may not raise off-site illumination by more than 0.3 foot-candles. Where the property next door already sits above that ambient level, perhaps because of a busy commercial corridor or existing streetlighting, the new development cannot add any measurable increase at all, a stricter no-net-increase rule rather than a fresh 0.3 allowance.

The standard works alongside Sec. 5.11.1's general shielding requirement, which bars any outdoor lighting source from producing glare in a public right-of-way or becoming a nuisance to occupants of adjacent property, and Sec. 5.11.2's mounting-height caps, which push developers toward full cutoff fixtures that keep light on-site in the first place. For nonresidential projects and buildings of more than five dwelling or lodging units, Sec. 5.11.6 requires the lighting plan submitted with a zoning compliance permit application to include an isolux contour diagram with measured or calculated foot-candles at grade on both the development site and any adjacent property where impacts are expected, which is how Planning and Development Services checks the 0.3 foot-candle ceiling before construction starts.