Unincorporated Richland County caps light spilling onto neighboring property. Illumination at a property line may not exceed 0.1 horizontal or 0.1 vertical foot-candles (outdoor retail up to an average of 2.5). Luminaires must be full-cutoff, downward-aimed, and fitted with visors to control off-site spill and glare.
Sec. 26-177(b) sets the light-trespass standard for new development. At property lines, illumination cannot exceed 0.1 horizontal or 0.1 vertical foot-candles, with outdoor retail uses allowed an average of 2.5 foot-candles. All luminaires must have internal/external visors, must be full-cutoff certified, and must be properly aimed and maintained to control off-site spill and glare. Distance rules also require the spacing between commercial or athletic luminaires and a residential property line to be at least equal to the luminaire height. Cities enforce their own lighting standards.
Lighting that exceeds the foot-candle limit at a property line is a zoning violation addressed through development review and enforced by the Planning Department.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Richland County has no ordinance banning residential backyard composting. Reasonable home compost piles are allowed, but a pile that becomes a nuisance, harb...
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Richland County has no ordinance specifically permitting or prohibiting artificial turf on residential lots. Single-family yards are exempt from the county's...
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Richland County does not require homeowners to plant native species, but its Land Development Code favors them: on development sites, trees and plants in par...
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Rainwater harvesting is legal in South Carolina and Richland County has no ordinance banning or permitting residential rain barrels or cisterns. The county a...
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Richland County itself imposes no permanent lawn-watering ordinance. Outdoor water use is governed by your water utility and by South Carolina's Drought Resp...
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Richland County Code Sec. 18-4 treats overgrown grass, weeds, dead brush and noxious plants in developed areas as "unsafe and noxious vegetation." The sherif...
See how Richland County's light trespass rules stack up against other locations.
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