Tigard, OR Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Tigard Municipal Code § 18.410.030, Vehicle Parking and Loading Standards, contains the light trespass limit in subsection H. Three standards apply to every parking area lit under the section. First, all pedestrian paths in parking areas and providing access to parking areas must be illuminated to a minimum of 0.5 footcandles at all points, measured horizontally at ground level. Second, lighting luminaires must have a cutoff angle of 90 degrees or greater so that lighting is directed toward the parking surface. Third, lighting cannot cause a light trespass of more than 0.5 footcandles measured vertically at the boundaries of the site.

The floor and the ceiling use different measuring directions. The 0.5 footcandle minimum is read horizontally at the ground, while the 0.5 footcandle trespass cap is read vertically at the site boundary, which is where a neighbor's window or yard sits. Bicycle parking areas get a matching rule in § 18.410.050.D.3, which prints the cap as one-half footcandles measured vertically at the boundaries of the site, and § 18.410.050.D.1 sets the same 0.5 footcandle minimum at all points.

Zone chapters add boundary limits of their own inside the City of Tigard. For apartments, § 18.230.040.H.2 allows 0.5 footcandles at side and rear property lines, 1.0 footcandle where the development abuts a commercial or industrial zone, and zero footcandles at any sensitive lands boundary line. Commercial zones under § 18.320.040.G.2 use the same 0.5 and 1.0 footcandle limits, measured vertically at the property line. In the IND zone, § 18.330.040.D sets 0.5 footcandles measured vertically at the property line where the site abuts a residential zone or sensitive lands.

Tigard Community Development reviews these standards, and code compliance staff enforce them after construction.