Exterior lighting must restrict glare and keep light from encroaching onto adjacent properties and the road right-of-way. Flickering or flashing lights are banned, and lighting near residential property faces added buffer restrictions.
The purpose of Article 12 is to keep lighting safe, restrict glare, and limit light encroaching onto adjacent properties by regulating spill-over and glare affecting drivers, pedestrians and nearby land uses. Exterior lighting must restrict and divert glare and keep light from encroaching into the road right-of-way and beyond property lines. No flickering or flashing lights are permitted. For non-residential uses adjacent to residentially zoned property, light sources or luminaires may not be located within bufferyard areas except on pedestrian walkways. Non-residential projects must submit a lighting plan reviewed to confirm adjoining property is not adversely impacted.
Light-trespass and glare complaints are addressed by Polk County Planning & Development through the site-plan review and code-enforcement process.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Polk County allows backyard composting but regulates it through the Health Nuisance Regulation: a compost pile that harbors vermin, produces offensive odors,...
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Polk County has no ordinance for or against artificial turf on residential lots. Installation on unincorporated land is generally unrestricted; cities and HO...
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Polk County has no ordinance banning native or prairie landscaping, and the county promotes native roadside vegetation. The one legal limit: your planting ca...
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Iowa has no state ban on collecting rainwater, and Polk County sets no rain-barrel ordinance. Residents may capture roof runoff in barrels or cisterns; only ...
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Polk County sets no lawn-watering schedule. Central Iowa's water is managed by Central Iowa Water Works / Des Moines Water Works, which can impose voluntary ...
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Iowa Code 317.10 requires every landowner to destroy all noxious weeds on their land as directed by the county board of supervisors. Polk County's Weed Commi...
Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in this county.
See how West Des Moines's light trespass rules stack up against other locations.
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