New Berlin, WI Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

New Berlin's outdoor lighting standards sit inside the zoning code's performance-standards section, § 275-60 I, last amended June 11, 2019 by Ordinance No. 2620. Subsection (2) requires shielded luminaires or fixtures with cutoff optics, and Subsection (3) goes further: fixtures must be oriented so the lighting element or a transparent shield never throws rays onto a neighboring lot, and light cannot be aimed into a street right-of-way or upward into the sky. 5 footcandle where the adjoining land use is residential. 0 footcandles with the same ratio, both capped at a 20:1 maximum-to-minimum ratio.

Fixture height tops out at 25 feet measured to the bottom of the luminaire, and no fixture may sit inside a required buffer yard. Flashing, flickering or otherwise distracting lighting that could draw a motorist's eye is prohibited outright, and any lighting that becomes a public nuisance is barred regardless of whether it meets the numeric tests. Decorative accent lighting and low-voltage fixtures of 12 volts or less, including residential post lights, are exempt. Fixtures approved before the section's adoption keep legal nonconforming status. Nonresidential and multifamily developments must submit a lighting plan covering the whole parcel to the Department of Community Development as part of site plan review.