Smyrna, GA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Smyrna has no citywide light trespass standard in the zoning text read for this page. The measurable limit sits in two districts. In the ROD redevelopment overlay district, Sec. 719.7 says lighting levels shall not exceed .25 footcandles when measured at adjacent residentially zoned properties, and that there shall be no limitation on lighting levels when adjacent to non-residential properties. Sec. 720.7 in the MU mixed use district uses the same sentence word for word. The measuring point is the neighboring residential property, not the light fixture, so a bright parking lot is judged by what reaches the residential lot line.

The ROD is described in Sec. 719.1 as a district for pedestrian oriented mixed use development and redevelopment of commercial, office and residential uses at a community or regional activity center scale. It can be overlaid on the RM-12, RHR, CBD and GC districts. The minimum project area is five acres, though smaller tracts can be considered if within 200 feet of an existing or proposed redevelopment project (719.3). Buffer rules add to the lighting cap: any ROD property abutting residentially zoned property needs a minimum 25-foot landscaped screening buffer (719.4), while an MU property abutting single-family or multi-family residential without an intervening street needs a minimum ten-foot landscaped screening buffer (720.4).

Process matters too. An ROD application is filed with the community development department at a fee of $500.00, goes through a concept plan review meeting held twice monthly, and is posted for a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 45 days before the council meeting, where a public hearing is held (719.8). ROD approval is voided if no application for permit approval is received within the first six months after final approval.

Outside those two districts, Sec. 512.6 protects the area around electrical transformer stations, telephone exchanges and gas regulator stations from noise, odor, glare, dust, fumes, gas, smoke, vibration or other obnoxious characteristics, but it prints no footcandle number.