Chino Hills, CA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 16.48.040, Lights, is one line long but it is a mandatory performance standard, not a design suggestion: all lights and glare associated with operations and illuminated signs shall be shielded or directed so as to not illuminate adjacent properties or cause glare to motorists. It sits inside Chapter 16.48, Performance Standards, whose intent section, 16.48.010, states the standards are designed to minimize and mitigate the environmental impacts of existing and proposed land uses, including glare, and that the chapter applies to all land uses, including permanent and temporary uses, citywide, not just commercial districts.

That breadth matters: unlike the parking-lot-specific shielding guideline in Chapter 16.09, which reaches only non-residential projects in design review, Section 16.48.040 covers any operation's lighting and any illuminated sign, including on a residential lot, whenever its glare crosses onto a neighbor's property or into the path of a driver. The section is paired in the chapter with related performance standards; mechanical and electrical equipment must be located and operated so as not to disturb adjacent uses under Section 16.48.060, and any commercial outdoor patio must provide lighting that complies with Section 16.48.040 under Section 16.09.100.

A resident or business whose exterior floodlight, sign illumination, or security light spills onto a neighboring yard or shines into oncoming traffic is out of compliance regardless of whether the light source itself meets any other code section, because Section 16.48.040 regulates the effect, illumination of adjacent property or glare to motorists, not just the fixture type.