Hollywood, FL Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- § 7.1.B.2.f
- Standard
- No glare or excessive light on adjacent property
- Applies to
- All required off-street parking facilities
- Site plan required
- Under § 7.1.B.2.g with permit application
- Enforcement
- Office of Code Enforcement / Special Magistrate
- Maximum fine
- $1,000/day; $5,000/day for repeat violation
- Appeal deadline
- 30 days to Circuit Court
Summary
Hollywood's zoning code requires that lighting for any required off-street parking facility be arranged and designed to prevent glare or excessive light from spilling onto adjacent property. The rule applies citywide to every development, from home additions to shopping centers, that must provide off-street parking under Zoning and Land Development Regulations § 7.1.
f. Lighting shall be arranged and designed to prevent glare or excessive light on adjacent property.
Full Breakdown
1 of Hollywood's Zoning and Land Development Regulations sets the baseline design standards every off-street parking facility must meet before the city will issue a building permit. f addresses fixtures directly: lighting must be arranged and designed to prevent glare or excessive light on adjacent property. A makes off-street parking mandatory for every building, use or structure instituted or erected after the article's effective date, and mandatory again whenever a building adds more than 10% floor area or changes use enough to raise its required parking by 25%, the lighting standard reaches nearly every new home addition, apartment building, restaurant and retail project that goes through Hollywood's Department of Planning and Development Services.
g, and staff use that plan to confirm fixtures are shielded or aimed away from neighboring lots rather than left to shine across the property line. The rule sets no footcandle ceiling or fixture-height number; it is a performance standard checked at plan review and, after occupancy, through complaint-driven inspection by the city's Office of Code Enforcement. There is no separate outdoor-lighting chapter for single-family yards outside the parking-lot context, so a homeowner's floodlight aimed at a neighbor's window is handled instead under the city's general nuisance and code-enforcement provisions rather than this numeric-free but mandatory design standard.
Violations & Fines
A parking lot light that glares onto a neighboring lot is cited as a zoning violation through the Code Enforcement Board process in Chapter 36. After a notice of violation and a chance to correct, an uncorrected case goes to a Special Magistrate hearing under § 36.29(A)(1), which can order a fine of up to $1,000 per day the violation continues, or up to $5,000 per day for a repeat violation, plus enforcement costs. Orders are appealable to the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit within 30 days under § 36.29(D)(1).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Hollywood limit how bright outdoor lighting can be near my property line?
What projects have to meet this lighting standard?
What happens if a business's parking lot lights shine into my yard?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hollywood
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Hollywood to another location·View the Florida outdoor lighting overview
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Light Trespass & Shielding in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Broward County handle light trespass & shielding.