Outdoor Lighting in Virginia (2026)

Albemarle County's outdoor lighting ordinance, Sec. 4.17, states its purpose is to protect dark skies and adjacent…

Chesterfield has no formal dark-sky ordinance. Instead, the Zoning Ordinance requires exterior lighting (except…

All new or replacement outdoor lighting fixtures in the county must be full cut-off, horizontally mounted fixtures that…

In Frederick County outside Winchester, Stephens City and Middletown, the Zoning Ordinance requires every new or…

Hanover County's Zoning Ordinance requires downward-directional full cutoff fixtures for nearly all commercial and…

Henrico County has no formal dark-sky ordinance, but its zoning code requires exterior building and security lighting…

Loudoun County's Zoning Ordinance directly adopts International Dark-Sky Association standards for outdoor lighting…

Lynchburg requires nearly all new exterior lighting on non-residential and multi-household properties to use full…

In Montgomery County outside Blacksburg and Christiansburg, street lights in a PUD-TND development must be dark-sky…

Portsmouth caps outdoor light fixture height at 16 feet in residential districts and 30 feet in commercial, mixed-use…

Prince William County requires all outdoor lighting fixtures on parking lots and buildings to be full cut-off and…

Roanoke's outdoor lighting division requires all fixtures to be fully shielded so no glare or light trespass crosses a…

Spotsylvania County requires every outdoor luminaire on commercial, office and industrial property to be a full cutoff…

Stafford County requires full cut-off, fully shielded fixtures for new and replacement outdoor lighting county-wide…

Suffolk UDO § 31-604 controls outdoor lighting to cut glare and skyglow. Non-exempt fixtures must use the shielded…

Virginia Beach requires full cutoff outdoor light fixtures on most new and replacement installations, aiming light…

Hampton, Virginia requires all lighting of parking areas, business or residential areas, and signs to be designed and…

Alexandria doesn't have a citywide light-trespass ordinance for private property, but it does regulate glare from…

Albemarle County caps light trespass at one-half foot candle under Sec. 4.17.4(b): spillover from an outdoor luminaire…

Except for single-family homes, exterior lighting in Chesterfield may not cast more than 0.5 foot-candle above…

Motion-activated security lights are exempt from the county's outdoor lighting standards only if aimed so illumination…

In Frederick County outside Winchester, Stephens City and Middletown, nonresidential outdoor lighting cannot exceed 0.2…

Hampton, Virginia requires that lighting on parking, business, residential, and manufacturing properties be designed…

Hanover County's Zoning Ordinance limits light trespass from recreational and sports facility lighting onto neighboring…

Henrico County limits sign illumination to no more than 0.5 foot candle above ambient light at any property line, and…

Any outdoor security light installed in Loudoun County must be full cutoff, aimed downward and inward, and capped at…

Lynchburg caps spillover lighting at any residential property line at 0.5 footcandles, measured both horizontally and…

Under Sec 10-46's performance standards, outside Blacksburg and Christiansburg, glare from any permitted or special-use…

Newport News requires any surface parking lot abutting a residential use to be shielded from that neighbor: a six-foot…

Portsmouth caps light spilling onto a neighboring lot line at 0.5 foot-candles next to residential uses, 1.0 next to…

Prince William County measures outdoor light in foot-candles under its Chapter 32 lighting standards (§ 32-250.202) and…

Richmond requires any accessory outdoor lighting, whether on a home, business, or parking lot, to be positioned, aimed…

Every outdoor light fixture installed under a Roanoke development plan or replacing an existing one must be fully…

Roanoke County caps light trespass from exterior lighting at 0.5 foot-candles measured at adjoining streets or…

Spotsylvania County caps nonresidential outdoor lighting at 0.5 footcandles measured at the property line wherever it…

Stafford County caps outdoor lighting spillover at half a footcandle measured at any property line next to a…

Suffolk UDO § 31-604 caps light spilling onto neighbors. At the property line of a parking lot adjoining a public…

Virginia Beach requires outdoor lighting fixtures to be full cutoff, with wall pack security lights fully shielded and…

Albemarle County's Zoning Ordinance prohibits billboards entirely under Sec. 4.15.8(c)(4), so no billboard-lighting…

Fairfax County requires every illuminated sign, including electronic and billboard-style displays, to meet the same…

Lynchburg requires every lit billboard to use enclosed, shaded, or indirect fixtures so they do not interfere with…

Electronic display signs within 250 feet of a residential district must go dark from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Newport News…

Roanoke requires every illuminated sign, including outdoor advertising billboards, to keep its light source enclosed or…

Roanoke County regulates illumination on every sign in the county, including the off-premises billboards allowed in its…

Stafford County has no billboard-specific lighting rule, but its architectural and landscape lighting standard covers…

Virginia Beach requires every illuminated sign, including billboards, to be shielded from glare, banned from blinking…