Framingham, MA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Framingham City Council folded a light-trespass standard directly into the off-street parking design rules at Chapter 435, Zoning. Section 435-24D(2) tells applicants that lighting for a parking lot or site shall not be directed or focused so it lands on neighboring buildings or blinds drivers on public ways, and that any luminaire causing that effect must be redirected, shielded, or have its output cut. The security-lighting subsection, § 435-24D(2)(f)[3], goes further with a bright-line number: the applicant must hold light output to a lumen of zero at every lot line, new fixtures and existing ones alike.

Getting there takes paperwork before construction starts: § 435-24D(2)(a) requires a photometric plan showing the location, mounting height, shield type, and lumen rating of every outdoor luminaire for the Planning Board's site plan review. Fixture design is capped too. Wall-mounted lights under § 435-24D(2)(c) top out at 15 feet and must be shielded to control glare, while pole-mounted fixtures under (d) cannot exceed 18 feet, must sit at least three feet back from the curbline, and are limited to 1,200 watts per lamp with no more than four lamps per pole.

Even permitted security lighting under (f)[1] is capped at 0.5 footcandle of average illumination on the ground or any vertical surface. A property owner who needs relief from these numbers can apply for a special permit for dimensional relief to the off-street parking design standards under § 435-24, but the space saved must go to landscaped open space rather than more pavement. The rule sits inside the off-street parking article, so it reaches parking facility and site lighting reviewed by the Planning Board on new construction and redevelopment, not incidental porch or landscape lighting on an existing single-family lot.