Monterey Park, CA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

The lighting standard sits in Chapter 21.10, Commercial Zones, and governs every outdoor fixture on a commercial lot, from wall-mounted security lights to parking-lot poles. Subsection (A) requires that light be located and shielded so it does not directly spill glare onto adjacent lots and streets, the operative light-trespass rule for neighboring properties. Subsections (B) and (C) set illumination floors rather than caps: open parking lots need an average of two foot-candles and a minimum of one foot-candle measured at the parking surface, and parking garage structures need an average of five foot-candles and a minimum of two foot-candles.

Subsection (D) folds in the trespass concern again for parking and loading areas specifically, requiring fixtures to be arranged to reflect light away from abutting streets or properties, and it hands design and intensity approval to the Department of Community Development, which can reject a fixture plan that would throw glare onto a neighbor. That subsection also imposes an ongoing maintenance duty: lighting must be kept in good working condition at all times, so a burned-out or misaimed fixture is itself noncompliant, not just the original installation.

The rule applies at site-plan and permit review, when the Department checks a photometric or fixture plan for shielding and required light levels, and continues to apply afterward through code enforcement inspections triggered by a neighbor's glare complaint.