Tangipahoa Parish, LA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 36-118(e) sets special development standards for 'small box discount stores,' a defined commercial use under the parish's general commercial property standards in Chapter 36, Article V. Paragraph (4), 'Light pollution,' requires that all light fixtures positioned adjacent to residential uses be directed downward and include a light fixture shield, specifically to prevent light from being directed toward residences and to limit light pollution and unwanted glare. This sits alongside the same subsection's other neighbor-facing standards: paragraph (3) requires a six-foot site-obscuring fence along any shared property line with residential uses, and paragraph (10) requires dumpsters to be screened from the primary street by a six-foot fence with latching gates.

The small box discount store rules apply parish-wide to any such store proposed no less than two miles from an existing one, measured property line to property line, and no final inspection or certificate of occupancy can issue until the required lighting shields, along with the store's façade, landscaping and buffer requirements, are all in place. Outside the small box discount store category, general commercial developments carry their own separate 'privacy fence or natural barrier as necessary to separate incompatible land uses' requirement on their site plans under Section 36-116(b)(9), though that section does not itself specify a lighting shield standard the way Section 36-118(e)(4) does for small box stores.