Shoreline, WA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Shoreline's outdoor lighting standard focuses on where light lands, not merely how bright a fixture is. SMC § 20.50.115(A), the Light Trespass Standard, requires that outdoor lighting fixtures be non-glare and shielded to minimize direct illumination of abutting properties and adjacent streets. It further requires that fixtures be located, aimed, or shielded so as to minimize stray light trespassing onto adjacent properties and buildings. The most concrete test in the section is objective rather than a lux measurement: the light source itself, meaning the lamp or bulb inside a fixture, must be shielded such that it is not directly visible from other properties or the public right-of-way.

That makes compliance checkable by simply standing on a neighboring lot or the sidewalk and looking at the fixture. The standard sits in Subchapter dealing with General Development Standards, so it applies to new construction and site development citywide rather than to a single zone. It works alongside the prohibited-lighting list in subsection (B), which separately bans floodlighting, search or laser lights, and strobes, and the exemptions in subsection (B) for emergency, pool, sign, holiday, sports and alarm-triggered lighting. Complaints about glare or light trespass onto a neighboring property are handled by Planning and Community Development as a Development Code compliance matter.