Oconee County, SC Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Light trespass onto neighboring land is addressed directly in the same lighting-standards subsection that governs dark-sky shielding. Appendix A(c)(3) reads in full: lighting shall not illuminate neighboring properties or distract/harm the traveling public on road rights-of-way, any necessary screening of lighting shall be shown on site plans, and lighting will be inspected before a certificate of occupancy is granted. That obligation is layered onto the rest of Appendix A(c): a lighting plan prepared by a South Carolina-licensed design professional must accompany the zoning permit application and show every fixture's location, type, and height along with photometric data on the angle of light emission, and the zoning permit itself will not issue until the planning department approves that plan.

Fixtures are capped at 20 feet in overall height, and on-site lighting is supposed to accent architecture and light walkways, entrances, and areas between buildings rather than wash an entire building face, which in practice limits how much light can spill sideways onto an adjoining lot. Because trespass is checked again at the certificate-of-occupancy stage, a project can pass its zoning permit review with an approved plan on paper and still be held up if the installed fixtures actually spill light onto the property next door once built.

As with the rest of Appendix A, this rule attaches to the zoning permit process under Chapter 38, so it reaches development in the districts the county council has mapped, not the unmapped Control Free District.