Lancaster County, NE Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

026 lets the Planning Commission approve recreation facilities by special permit in the AG and AGR districts, and it attaches a specific outdoor lighting standard rather than leaving light spill to general nuisance law. Any illumination source under 4,050 lumens is unregulated unless it is neon, cold cathode, or fiber optic tube lighting, but once a fixture exceeds that 4,050-lumen threshold it must be a cutoff or full cutoff luminaire, mounted level on both the horizontal and vertical axis with the beam's center directed straight down.

Mercury vapor luminaires are banned outright for outdoor lighting at these facilities. 0 foot-candles are allowed, measured on a vertical plane at the property line of the adjacent property, which is the county's direct, quantified cap on how much light a recreation facility may throw onto a neighbor's land. The same special permit application must disclose the facility's maximum proposed occupancy and event frequency, since the Planning Commission may cap participants per event and limit how many events occur over a given period, and yard and parking requirements beyond the base district standards can also be imposed as part of the same approval.