Vacaville, CA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

240's citywide performance standards. It applies to every use and property in the City and imposes two distinct duties. First, a general shielding and direction requirement: exterior lighting must be shielded and directed so that it does not create a hazard or nuisance to other properties, and so it does not impact traffic on adjacent streets, meaning a fixture that glares into a neighbor's window or into oncoming traffic fails the standard regardless of how bright it measures. Second, a specific rule for residential yard lighting: fixtures attached to a dwelling to illuminate the side or rear yard cannot shine above the top of the fenceline.

That fenceline cap is the code's concrete, measurable trespass line for houses, distinguishing this section from the separate footcandle-intensity standard in subsection C, which limits how bright a fixture can be rather than where its light is allowed to fall. Because the standard is written as a performance requirement rather than a fixture-type mandate, compliance is judged by the practical effect: shielded fixtures typically satisfy it, while unshielded floodlights aimed toward a shared property line typically do not. 25, Enforcement Procedures, and the City's public nuisance abatement process.