Sparks, NV Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 20.04.007(A) states the baseline rule directly: any lighting facilities shall be installed to reflect away from adjoining properties. That single sentence is the city's light-trespass standard, and subsection B turns it into a design requirement rather than a suggestion. Any new development must submit a photometric plan for the Administrator's review and approval at the time of the building permit application, and that plan has to demonstrate two things aimed squarely at trespass onto neighboring lots: that lighting facilities will be installed to reflect away from adjoining properties, and that covers will be installed on every fixture so the lamp itself never extends below the bottom of the cover, preventing direct glare from crossing a property line.

Two more subsections reinforce the shielding requirement. Subsection C requires the style and intensity of lighting to consider not just function but the existing character of the surrounding area, discouraging fixtures bright enough to wash out a neighboring yard. Subsection D specifically addresses parking lot lighting, capping pole height at 30 feet from the grade of the lot and requiring poles to be decorative and architecturally consistent with the project, which limits how far a large commercial fixture can throw light onto adjacent residential or commercial parcels. Because Chapter 20.04 applies to every rezoning, administrative review, conditional use permit, deviation, variance and building permit application in the city, a project with a lighting plan that spills glare onto a neighbor's lot cannot get its permit approved without correcting the design first, and the only route around a subsection's standard is a variance or an appeal under Section 20.04.001(B).