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

61 (Industrial Business Park), requires that "all land uses proposed in the IBP zoning district shall be operated and maintained so as to not be injurious to public health, safety or welfare" and lists four numbered standards an approved use must meet: air emissions, glare and heat, ground vibration, and odor. " That means an IBP-zoned business cannot let floodlight glare, welding flash, or radiant heat from combustion equipment reach beyond its own lot boundary, the county measures compliance at the property line itself, not at a receptor's window or lot interior.

110, so the same no-glare-at-the-line rule governs both of the county's principal industrial zones in the unincorporated area. Both sections were adopted by Ordinance CS 832 in 2003 as part of the county's business park and light industrial zoning chapters. The standard is administered by the Department of Planning and Community Development as part of land use permit review under Title 21, an applicant proposing floodlighting, welding operations, or other glare/heat sources must design shielding, siting, or operational limits into the project so the light or heat does not cross the property line, and the director can condition or deny approval on that basis.

Outside the IBP and LI districts, and outside unincorporated territory generally (Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, and the county's other cities each administer their own zoning), this specific property-line glare standard does not apply.