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

Subsection (D)(2), Nuisance Prevention, requires all outdoor lighting to be designed, located, installed, directed downward or toward structures, and fully shielded to prevent glare, light trespass, and light pollution from reaching adjoining properties or rights-of-way, so that no fixture illuminates any area outside the project site it is meant to light. Subsection (D)(3) then sets the hard number: light levels at the property line cannot exceed one-quarter foot-candle. 25 foot-candle figure does double duty elsewhere in the section as a minimum illumination floor, required at multi-unit residential aisles, passageways, and entryways and at nonresidential exterior doors during hours of darkness, so a project must clear that level at its own doorways while staying under it at the boundary with a neighbor.

Fixtures mounted on buildings may only attach to walls or eaves and cannot project above the parapet, roof, or eave line, which is one of the mechanical controls the code uses to keep spill off adjacent lots. Accent lighting must use low-intensity, fully shielded lamps that produce no glare or trespass, and security lighting fixtures cannot project above the building's fascia or roofline, must be shielded and aimed only at the designated area, and flood-lighting fixtures are prohibited outright.