Outdoor Lighting in Arizona (2026)

Arizona regulates outdoor lighting statewide through the Outdoor Light Control statutes, requiring shielded fixtures…

Flagstaff was named the world's first International Dark Sky City in 2001. Its Zoning Code and the Coconino County…

Maricopa requires exterior lighting fixtures to be fully or partially shielded, bans new mercury vapor lamps and…

In unincorporated Maricopa County, most exterior lighting must be fully or partially shielded to control glare and…

Avondale's zoning ordinance says its outdoor lighting rules exist to protect "naturally dark skies for astronomical…

Buckeye requires fully shielded fixtures for nearly all outdoor lighting, caps color temperature at 3000 Kelvin, and…

Gilbert's Code of Ordinances requires every outdoor light fixture in town, residential included, to be designed to cut…

Chapter 26.5 of the Glendale Code requires most outdoor light fixtures to be fully shielded and filtered to control…

Goodyear's Zoning Ordinance bans mercury vapor lighting citywide and requires nearly every other outdoor fixture to be…

Mesa's Lighting Control Ordinance requires most outdoor fixtures to be shielded and filtered, caps light spillage at…

Mohave County protects its night skies through Ordinance 87-1, the Outdoor Light Control (Dark Sky) Ordinance, carried…

Peoria's Outdoor Light Control Code requires every nonexempt outdoor fixture, from parking lot lights to landscape…

Phoenix requires most outdoor light fixtures to be fully shielded downward, and metal halide or fluorescent fixtures…

Pima County adopted the 2012 City of Tucson/Pima County Outdoor Lighting Code as its own law, applying dark-sky…

Queen Creek's Zoning Ordinance regulates outdoor lighting under Section 5.5 to protect the night sky, astronomical…

Sahuarita adopted its own 2012 Outdoor Lighting Code by reference under Town Code Section 15.05.020, and zoning…

Scottsdale's Zoning Ordinance requires shields, downward-directed sources, and full cutoff fixtures once a luminaire…

Sedona's Land Development Code requires every new or substantially modified outdoor light fixture in the city to be…

Surprise requires full cut-off fixtures citywide and layers on stricter dark-sky protection in its LZ0 zone, where…

Tempe's Zoning and Development Code caps on-site lighting at 40 foot-candles and classifies fixtures by cutoff type…

Yavapai County's Section 603 dark-sky ordinance caps single-family lots at 5,000 lumens and commercial/industrial lots…

Yuma's outdoor lighting chapter states its purpose in dark-sky terms: reducing waste, glare, light trespass and effects…

Unincorporated Maricopa County requires outdoor light fixtures to be shielded, bans mercury vapor luminaires and…

Sahuarita bars wireless communication facilities from carrying lighting beyond required security lighting, and even…

Avondale caps light trespass at one foot-candle measured at the property line contiguous to a residential district or…

Buckeye's Development Code caps how much outdoor light can spill onto a neighbor's property, limiting off-site…

Chandler's Property Maintenance Ordinance bars any exterior lighting on a property from casting rays onto a neighboring…

Outdoor light fixtures in unincorporated Coconino County must be aimed and shielded so illumination stays inside the…

Gilbert requires floodlights, spotlights and other high-intensity security or site fixtures to be fully shielded so the…

Glendale Code Section 26.5-6(d) bars low-wattage, unshielded outdoor lighting from directing light onto adjacent…

Goodyear's Outdoor Lighting article makes property owners responsible for keeping installed lighting from crossing onto…

Maricopa requires exterior fixtures, including security lights, to be fully or partially shielded so rays stay on-site…

Mesa caps outdoor lighting fixture height by district and use under Table 11-30-5, and bans motion effects outright…

Peoria bars outdoor light fixtures from spilling onto a neighbor's land. Section 21-302(F) requires lighting in a…

Phoenix requires most outdoor light fixtures to be fully shielded so light does not spill onto neighboring property or…

Unincorporated Pima County caps how sign lighting can spill onto neighbors: Code § 18.79.070(D) bars a sign's light…

Queen Creek's Zoning Ordinance controls light spilling onto neighboring land through Section 5.5.E. Any luminaire rated…

Scottsdale measures light trespass at the property line, six feet above grade, with the meter facing the lit property…

Sedona requires every outdoor light fixture to be fully shielded so illumination stays inside the property line where…

Surprise requires every outdoor light fixture, including security lighting, to be located, aimed, and shielded so its…

Tempe limits spillover light at a property line adjacent to a single-family district to 0.5 foot-candle, and bars…

Tucson has enforced the City of Tucson/Pima County Outdoor Lighting Code since 1985, adopted by reference in City Code…

Every outdoor fixture in unincorporated Yavapai County must be aimed to keep its direct light inside the property line…

Yuma defines light trespass as artificial light from a fixture on one property that is directed so the light source…

Chandler's sign code flatly prohibits billboards citywide, so there is no permit path for a lit or unlit off-premise…

Every billboard permitted in unincorporated Pima County, whether in a CB-2, CI-1, CI-2 or CI-3 zone, is barred from…

Glendale forces digital billboards dark overnight and caps their glare at the property line. UDC §…

Unincorporated Maricopa County limits offsite sign (billboard) lighting to four fully shielded luminaires per sign face…

Electronic billboards in Mesa's Billboard Overlay District can't exceed 300 nits in full white mode during evening…

Peoria carves out a narrow exception to its shielding code for billboard lighting: bottom-mounted outdoor advertising…

Off-premise billboards in Phoenix may be lit but must dim after sunset and go dark from 11 p.m. to sunrise under the…

Illuminated signs and billboards in unincorporated Pinal County may only be lit during business hours or until 11:00…

Tempe requires lighting fixtures that illuminate an outdoor advertising sign (billboard) to be mounted on top of the…

Any illuminated sign in Tucson, billboards included, must comply with the separately adopted Tucson/Pima County Outdoor…

Externally lit signs and billboards in unincorporated Yavapai County count as Class 1 Lighting, must be fully shielded…

Yuma requires billboard lighting fixtures to sit on top of the sign structure and be shielded, and bans ground-mounted…