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

Section 33-712 of the Escondido Municipal Code defines light trespass as light falling across property boundaries onto property not containing the originating light source, and separately defines glare as difficulty seeing caused by direct or reflected bright light. Section 33-711 states the article's purpose is to minimize glare, light trespass and artificial sky glow for residents' benefit and to protect astronomical research at Palomar Observatory. For single-family homes and multifamily buildings of six units or fewer, Section 33-713(e) requires that the types, locations, and controlling devices of outdoor light fixtures shall minimize glare, light trespass, and artificial sky glow, without imposing the numeric CCT or shielding specification governing larger and nonresidential development.

Larger and nonresidential properties face the objective standard in Section 33-713(a): fixtures must be shielded low-pressure sodium, shielded narrow-spectrum amber LED, or another shielded fixture at 3,000 Kelvin CCT or less, and any fixture within 100 feet of a signalized intersection must be shielded or aimed so it does not spill onto or interfere with the signal. Shielding itself is defined in Section 33-712 as construction or mounting that projects all light below an imaginary horizontal plane through the fixture's lowest light-emitting point, a zero up-light rating.

Section 33-715 applies the most restrictive of city, state or federal law where they conflict, and a willful violation is an infraction under Section 33-716, citable under Section 1-17 of Chapter 1.