Gaston County, NC Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Sec. 13 opens by explaining its purpose is direction in controlling light spillage and glare so as not to adversely affect motorists, pedestrians, and adjacent pieces of property, framing the whole section around trespass onto neighboring land and public rights-of-way rather than just energy or aesthetics. The operative anti-spillage rule sits in Sec. 2, covering the illumination of buildings, landscaping, and signs: unshielded outdoor illumination of any building or landscaping is prohibited outright, and only semi-cutoff or full cutoff fixtures may be used to avoid light spillage.

3). Sec. C separately bans specific glare-producing practices outright: operating searchlights for advertising, using illuminated highly reflective spotlights that hamper the vision of motorists or bicyclists, and flashing or blinking lights located in the right-of-way. As with the rest of Sec. 13, these light-trespass controls apply to single-family subdivisions and to nonresidential and multifamily development, but not to an individual single-family dwelling lot.