Outdoor Lighting in Louisiana (2026)
28 rules on the books across Louisiana, 13 cities and counties. Select a rule to read the full details.
Severity: Few Restrictions · Light Restrictions · Some Restrictions · Significant Restrictions · Heavy Restrictions
Dark Sky Rules
Ordinances designed to reduce light pollution, including requirements for shielded fixtures, limits on brightness, and curfews for decorative lighting.
Bossier Parish
Some RestrictionsUnincorporated Bossier Parish requires outdoor lighting to be arranged so its source is hidden from neighboring…
Read full rule →Caddo Parish
Some RestrictionsCaddo Parish caps cutoff-type outdoor light fixtures at 25 feet total height and requires a 75-degree or sharper cutoff…
Read full rule →East Baton Rouge Parish
Some RestrictionsEast Baton Rouge Parish has no parish-wide dark-sky ordinance for ordinary home yard lighting. The UDC defines…
Read full rule →Jefferson Parish
Some RestrictionsJefferson Parish bans mercury-vapor fixtures outright on covered sites and caps outdoor lighting height by zoning…
Read full rule →New Orleans
Some RestrictionsThe CZO requires exterior lighting to be fully shielded and directed downward. Light poles and building-mounted…
Read full rule →Shreveport
Some RestrictionsShreveport has adopted no dark-sky ordinance, no International Dark-Sky Association standard and no lamp…
Read full rule →St Tammany Parish
Some RestrictionsUnincorporated St. Tammany Parish requires full cutoff, shielded fixtures for most outdoor lighting and caps footcandle…
Read full rule →Ascension Parish
Light RestrictionsIn unincorporated Ascension Parish, the Unified Land Development Code sets a minimal exterior lighting standard at UDC…
Read full rule →Lake Charles
Light RestrictionsWithin a Lake Charles Traditional Neighborhood Development, Sec. 24-5-309(2.15) requires all lighting to be shielded…
Read full rule →Light Trespass & Shielding
Rules preventing outdoor lights from shining onto neighboring homes, shielding and full-cutoff fixture requirements, aiming standards, and footcandle caps at the property line.
Ascension Parish
Some RestrictionsIn unincorporated Ascension Parish, exterior lighting for an off-street parking area, sign or other structure must be…
Read full rule →Bossier Parish
Some RestrictionsIn unincorporated Bossier Parish, the Police Jury's zoning protection standards bar any use from emitting objectionable…
Read full rule →Caddo Parish
Some RestrictionsOutdoor lighting in Caddo Parish cannot exceed one footcandle measured at any lot line, and no glare may spill onto…
Read full rule →East Baton Rouge Parish
Some RestrictionsIn City-Parish overlay and development standards, lighting must be shielded so no more than five foot-candles cross a…
Read full rule →Jefferson Parish
Some RestrictionsJefferson Parish bars covered commercial, industrial, multi-family, and civic sites from aiming outdoor light at…
Read full rule →Lafayette
Some RestrictionsLafayette adopted Code of Ordinances § 89-37 to 'protect and maintain the residential character of established…
Read full rule →Lafayette Parish
Some RestrictionsLafayette's commercial lighting rule requires new multifamily, commercial, and industrial developments to shield…
Read full rule →Lake Charles
Some RestrictionsLake Charles allows communication and utility towers as a minor conditional use in the Business District only if Sec…
Read full rule →New Orleans
Some RestrictionsThe CZO caps spillover light at your property line: no more than 0.5 foot-candle at a residential property line and 1.0…
Read full rule →Shreveport
Some RestrictionsShreveport draws a hard numeric line on spillover: the maximum allowable footcandle at any lot line is one footcandle…
Read full rule →St Tammany Parish
Some RestrictionsSt. Tammany Parish's outdoor lighting standard exists specifically to minimize light trespass, and UDC Section 600-2.1…
Read full rule →Tangipahoa Parish
Some RestrictionsTangipahoa Parish requires 'small box discount store' developments to shield their lighting from neighboring homes…
Read full rule →Terrebonne Parish
Some RestrictionsTerrebonne Parish Code Sec. 28-71(c) requires that lighting used for signs, parking areas or other purposes within the…
Read full rule →Billboard Lighting
Lighting standards for outdoor advertising, luminance limits, dwell time, sky-glow mitigation, and curfew hours after which billboards must dim or shut off.
Bossier Parish
Some RestrictionsOff-premise signs and billboards in unincorporated Bossier Parish may be illuminated only under Section 126-888(i)'s…
Read full rule →Jefferson Parish
Some RestrictionsJefferson Parish caps electronic variable message billboards and other EVM signs at 323 candelas per square meter…
Read full rule →Lafayette Parish
Some RestrictionsLafayette City-Parish requires digital billboard displays to automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes…
Read full rule →Shreveport
Some RestrictionsBillboard lighting in Shreveport is tightly numeric. UDC Section 9.8.E requires every electronic billboard to run a…
Read full rule →Tangipahoa Parish
Some RestrictionsOff-premises billboards in unincorporated Tangipahoa Parish may be illuminated only with shielded external lighting…
Read full rule →Terrebonne Parish
Some RestrictionsTerrebonne Parish requires any floodlight, thin-line or gooseneck reflector used to light a billboard to aim at the…
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