Yavapai County, AZ Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

4 (Light Trespass Standard) requires that all outdoor light fixtures, including motion-sensing fixtures, be located, aimed, and shielded so the direct illumination they produce stays confined within the property boundaries of the source. A second, stricter rule applies near neighbors: any privately or publicly owned fixture with an output over 5,000 lumens that sits within 50 feet of a residential property, including multi-family development, or of a public right-of-way, must use an internal or external shield oriented specifically to prevent direct illumination from crossing that adjacent property or right-of-way line.

If the shield is external, its surface must be painted black to cut down on reflected glare. The ordinance's own definitions section describes the harm this targets in plain terms: 'Light Trespass' means light falling across property boundaries onto property that does not contain the originating light source. Light trespass is also one of the five named problems the whole Section 603 purpose clause exists to prevent, alongside sky glow, glare, energy waste, and disruption to nocturnal wildlife, which is why the standard applies on top of, not instead of, the county's shielding and lumen-output rules for the fixture's own lighting class.