Polk County, IA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Article 12, Division 1 of the Polk County Zoning Ordinance is devoted to exterior lighting, and its stated purpose is to ensure lighting is safe, restricts glare, and limits light encroachment onto adjacent properties by regulating the spill-over of light and glare on persons operating motor vehicles, pedestrians, and land uses in the proximity of the light source. The ordinance frames this as both a safety measure for drivers and a nuisance-and-hazard control for neighboring land. Section 2, Restrictions, backs the purpose language with two operative rules: no flickering or flashing lights are permitted anywhere, and light sources or luminaries for nonresidential uses adjacent to residentially zoned property cannot be located within required bufferyard areas except on pedestrian walkways, keeping fixtures set back from the property line that separates the uses.

2 footcandles at the property line, and that limit applies to residential properties adjacent to other residential properties as well, so a bright yard light next door is capped the same way a commercial lot's lighting is. Nonresidential development also has to submit a lighting plan under Section 3, prepared by a certified architect, landscape architect or lighting designer, showing fixture locations, footcandle readings on a 10-foot grid, pole heights and cutoff angles, reviewed specifically to confirm adjoining property will not be adversely impacted.