San Luis Obispo County, CA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

060(B) of the Land Use Ordinance requires that light sources be designed and adjusted to direct light away from any road or street and away from any dwelling outside the ownership of the person installing the fixture. Subsection C layers on a separate, broader prohibition: no light or glare may be transmitted or reflected in a concentration or intensity that is detrimental or harmful to persons, or that interferes with the use of surrounding properties or streets. Together these subsections cover both directional light trespass onto a neighbor's home or the public roadway, and glare or brightness intense enough to interfere with the use and enjoyment of adjoining land, regardless of which direction the fixture points.

The standards apply to any outdoor night-lighting source installed after the section's effective date, except street lighting within public rights-of-way and lighting on parcels in the Agriculture land use category, and require no land use permit, only an electrical permit if Title 19 calls for one. Complaints alleging a fixture is aimed at a neighbor's residence or is producing harmful glare are handled by the county's Department of Planning and Building through the code enforcement process rather than through a separate lighting permit review, since no permit is issued for most residential fixtures in the first place.