Example Lighting Ordinances
North Carolina Lighting
Ordinances
If you have online examples of NC Lighting
Ordinances, send us a link. We can develop a database of
ordinances by city/county.
| City/County | Comments |
| Apex | Moderately comprehensive |
| Black Mountain | Proposed - Moderately comprehensive |
| Boone | Strict, full cutoof and lighting levels code but for commercial lighting only, built on Apex ordinance, effective 1/1/2006 |
| Cary | Moderately comprehensive |
| Chapel Hill | None at their municode.org site. No specific mention of lighting requirements. They do prohibit storage of nuclear weapons however (Sec 11-111). |
| Charlotte | None |
| Durham | None |
| Greensboro | Brief mention of shielding in one place. No organized approach. |
| Raleigh | Moderately comprehensive |
| Salisbury | (part of sign ordinance) |
| Wake County | Minimal. Not an organized approach, spread throughout various land use types. Generally, shield to avoid glare, trespass < 1 footcandle at the property line. Turn off the outside lights and signs when business is closed. |
| Watauga County | Targetted toward "high impact" development. |
| Winston-Salem | None |
| Your Town | Search Codes for "Lighting", "Lumens", "Footcandles", "Exterior Lighting" |
| If not found at municode.org, try typing the following URL: http://www.ci.(YOURTOWN).nc.us or http://www.co.(YOURCOUNTY).nc.us (substituting your actual town or county name for YOURTOWN or YOURCOUNTY of course.) Look for the Planning Department. |
Lighting Ordinance Activity
Outside NC
Texas Outdoor Lighting, Amendment of the Health and
Safety Code, enacted in 1999
Please also visit this excellent testimony
page, which shows the arguments presented in support of this
law. There are some very persuasive arguments for controlling
light pollution here.
New Mexico's Night Sky Protection Act, enacted in April 1999
Proposed Massachusetts Lighting Legislation
This has been in the works for some time now, but looks like it
may finally be passed soon.
Last Updated:
06/06/2003:Fix broken links from top down to Charlotte.
11/13/2000: Fixed Cary ordinance link.
11/06/2000: Fixed broken testimony link again.
10/20/2000: Fixed broken testimony link.
09/18/2000: Added links for Apex, Cary, and Raleigh and several other ordinances
03/30/2000: Updated for Salisbury ordinance
01/18/2000: Updated with examples from outside NC