The right lighting provides benefits to your property, including safety and crime prevention and curb appeal. However, too much, or the wrong type of, lighting causes a lot of problems – like light trespass to neighbors, dangerous glare to drivers, and impacts to sensitive habitat. Not to mention that excess lighting is wasteful and increases energy demand. The County promotes Dark Skies to limit the harmful effects of light pollution and encourages responsible lighting practices.

To support these initiatives, the Zoning Ordinance has rules on new or replacement outdoor lighting fixtures that are enforced by the Department of Code Compliance (DCC). DCC investigates for compliance with those rules, which include the ones bulleted below. Details about color temperature and brightness (measured in lumens) can be found on the lightbulb box.  

• Fixtures that emit initial light outputs greater than 1,500 lumens must be full cut-off and mounted horizontal to the ground. Full cut-off means no light is emitted above the bottom of the fixture – in other words, light should point down and not up.
• Lightbulb color temperature must be at or lower than 3,000 Kelvin.
• Lighting used to illuminate flags, as part of landscaping, or for architectural purposes, must be aimed and shielded to keep the light only on the intended object. Landscaping or architectural detail lighting cannot point directly upward without shielding.

Lights exempt from the regulations include:  

• Holiday lights
• Motion activated lights, such as security lights, of less than 4,000 lumens, when the light is directed within the property boundary and turns off within five minutes of motion stopping.

In addition to their Outdoor Lighting webpage, the Department of Planning and Development has flyers with key outdoor lighting regulation information for residential as well as commercial, industrial and other nonresidential properties.

Interested in light pollution monitoring? The Light Pollution Monitoring Kit, also known as the Dark Skies Kit, is available to borrow from the FCPL Library of Things and includes tools to measure and monitor light levels.

DCC is here to help – if you have questions, want to make a report, or if you are the subject of enforcement and need to contact us. You can report problems online, learn about what happens during an investigation, reach us via email, phone (703-324-1300 / TTY 711), or visit us in person at 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 1016, Fairfax, VA 22035.