Elyria, OH Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 1170.14 is the performance standards section of the Technology Park District chapter in Part Eleven of the Elyria Codified Ordinances, the Planning and Zoning Code. Its stated intent is to require permitted uses to be established and maintained compatible with adjoining properties through the control of noise, odor, glare, vibration, smoke, dust, radiation and waste. Light is covered in subsection C.3, headed Glare and Heat.

Paragraph a. carries the only number. No permitted use shall cause illumination at or beyond any residence district boundary in excess of 0.1 footcandle. Section 1125.35 of the Zoning Code defines a footcandle as a unit of illumination equal to the light flux which falls on a one square foot area one foot distant from a light source of one candlepower. The measuring line is the boundary of the residence district, so the test is run at the line where the residential zone begins.

Paragraph b. has no number. All exterior lighting must be used in a manner that produces no glare on public highways, neighboring property or adjacent zoning districts. That sentence protects drivers on public highways and any adjacent zoning district as well as residential neighbors.

The standards are continuing obligations. Section 1170.14(A)(2) tells every building permit recipient that the performance standards, like all other provisions of the chapter, bind the use after the permit issues, and subsection B states that any use which fails to comply with the standards is in violation of the section.

The rule is written for uses within a TPD. An owner of a tract of fifty acres or more can request rezoning to the TPD District under § 1170.15. Outside a TPD this 0.1 footcandle figure does not apply: parking-lot lights answer to § 1175.08(K) and off-premises sign lighting answers to § 1173.10(C).