Sedona, AZ Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 5.8.E(3), Shielding and Light Trespass, carries out the broader purpose set out in Section 5.8.A: exterior lighting is allowed for nighttime safety, utility, security, and enjoyment, but only while minimizing light pollution and its effects on stargazing, wildlife habitat, and human health. The operative rule is a default requirement, not a suggestion: every outdoor light fixture in Sedona must be fully shielded unless the Director signs off on an alternative lighting design under Section 5.8.D(2)c.

Shielding alone isn't enough; fixtures also have to be aimed correctly. The Code requires all light fixtures to be aimed and shielded so that direct illumination is confined to the property boundaries of the source, and it flatly states that lighting cannot be aimed onto adjacent properties. The only carve-outs are for shared parking areas, shared pedestrian pathways, and coordinated development sites that span more than one parcel, where common lighting design serves everyone.

When the Director does approve a partially shielded fixture as an alternative, it isn't unlimited: partially shielded fixtures are capped at 3,850 initial lumens per net acre, and no single lamp in that fixture can exceed 1,400 initial lumens. That numeric ceiling gives code enforcement an objective test for whether a compromise lighting design still respects the neighbors and the night sky, rather than leaving light trespass complaints to a case-by-case judgment call.