Arizona outdoor lighting codes — the rules a site-lighting design must meet, by jurisdiction

Outdoor lighting codes · 13 jurisdictions, 14 rule packs · verified August 8, 2026

Arizona has no single outdoor lighting code. It has a state shielding statute and 13 city, town and county ordinances that a site-lighting design may have to meet, written in two very different dialects: 6 of them are dark-sky lumen budgets per acre, 7 regulate by shielding, pole height and foot-candles at the property line. One of them, Tucson / Pima County, also has a draft revision that is not adopted; it is transcribed here, flagged as a draft on every line, and does not govern permits. This page is the map — a compare table, a picker, and one page per jurisdiction with the code’s own numbers. Transcribed from the adopted text, verified August 8, 2026; drafts flagged; always confirm with the AHJ.

The map of codes across Arizona

South of the Gila and around Flagstaff, the ordinances exist to protect professional observatories, and they read like a budget: a maximum number of lumens per net acre of developed site, set by a lighting area that tightens as you approach Kitt Peak, Mt. Hopkins, Mt. Lemmon or the Naval Observatory, with options that trade total lumens against source type or a small unshielded allowance. A parking lot that is compliant in urban Tucson can be several times over budget in Sahuarita or Flagstaff with the same fixtures.

The Phoenix-metro cities took a different route. None of them caps lumens per acre; they cap what leaves the property — foot-candles at the line, measured at a stated height — and they control the hardware: which lamp types must be fully shielded and filtered, how tall a pole may stand near homes, which fixtures must be off after eleven. Chandler goes furthest and wants zero at the line, proven by a photometric study.

Underneath all of it sits Arizona Revised Statutes Title 49, which requires shielding on nearly every outdoor fixture in the state and bans mercury vapor outright. It applies in every jurisdiction below and in every town that has no lighting ordinance of its own.

Pick the jurisdiction

Southern Arizona dark-sky codes

Lumen budgets per net acre around the Kitt Peak, Mt. Hopkins and Mt. Lemmon observatories.

Tucson/Pima 2012

Tucson / Pima County →

250,000 lm/acre in E3 down to 12,500 in E1a on the all-full-cutoff option; 3500K cap; unshielded lighting off at 11 PM.

Tucson/Pima 2025 draft

Tucson / Pima 2025 Draft Draft →

DRAFT — 3000K cap, amber preferred, motion dimming to 50%; 160,000 lm/acre in E3 on the standard all-shielded path.

Marana

Marana →

300,000 lm/acre E3 / 65,000 E2 on the non-LPS option; no CCT cap in the code; poles 20 ft on sites under 6 acres.

Oro Valley

Oro Valley →

Lighting area follows the zoning district; 300,000 / 150,000 / 65,000 / 45,000 lm per net acre all full cutoff; 2,000 lm unshielded per fixture.

Sahuarita

Sahuarita →

Whole town inside the Mt. Hopkins radius: 25,000 lm/acre E1b, 12,500 E1a, all full cutoff; 3500K cap.

Northern Arizona dark-sky codes

Lumen budgets with the strictest source rules in the state — amber in Flagstaff, 3000K citywide in Sedona.

Flagstaff

Flagstaff →

Narrow-band amber required for parking and area lighting; 35,000 lm/acre Zone 2, 17,500 Zone 1; white light ≤2700K only for listed uses.

Sedona

Sedona →

100,000 lm per net acre citywide, all fully shielded, ≤3000K; existing properties retrofit by January 1, 2028.

Phoenix-metro trespass and shielding codes

No lumen budget. Foot-candles at the property line, shielding by lamp type, pole heights near homes, design review.

Phoenix

Phoenix →

Shielding by lamp type; poles ≤15 ft within 150 ft of residential; 1 fc at the property line at design review.

Mesa

Mesa →

0.5 fc at the property line (0.3 fc abutting residential) at 36 in.; pole height tied to lamp wattage.

Chandler

Chandler →

Zero foot-candles at the property line, proven by photometric study; no numeric pole-height or curfew standard.

Gilbert

Gilbert →

0.3 fc at the line, 0.1 fc one hour after close; 14 ft poles within 100 ft of residential.

Glendale

Glendale →

1.0 fc non-residential / 0.5 fc residential at the line; parking lots must be lit sunset to sunrise; LED accent caps as low as 80 lm.

Scottsdale

Scottsdale →

Lumen tiers per fixture; anything ≥2,600 lm off 11 PM to 6 AM; 0.3 fc trespass at single-family lines.

Tempe

Tempe →

40 fc maximum at grade anywhere on site; statewide ARS shielding statute applies.

Compare the key rules

The commercial budget shown is the option most LED designs follow (the tool’s default for that code), in lumens per net acre by lighting area. A dash means the transcribed pack carries no such rule — not that the city has none; confirm with the AHJ.

Key outdoor lighting rules by Arizona jurisdiction
Jurisdiction	Family	Commercial budget, lm per net acre	CCT cap	Largest unshielded fixture	Curfew	Code cited
Tucson / Pima County	Southern Arizona	E3 250,000 · E3a 150,000 · E2 62,000 · E1c 28,000 · E1b 25,000 · E1a 12,500 Option 2 — all fixtures full cutoff (typical LED design)	3500K	3,000 lm	Unshielded lighting off 11 PM to sunrise; signs off at midnight in E3/E3a, 11 PM elsewhere.	Tucson/Pima County OLC 2012 (Ord. 2012-14), Tables 401.1–401.2
Tucson / Pima 2025 Draft Draft	Southern Arizona	E3 160,000 · E3a 96,000 · E2 40,000 · E1c 28,000 · E1b 25,000 · E1a 12,500 Option 3A — any allowed CCT (≤3000K), all fully shielded	3000K	3,000 lm	Same curfews as the current code, plus motion dimming to 50% within 15 minutes of no activity (draft §404).	Tucson/Pima County OLC 2025 draft (rev. 09/12/2025), Tables 401.1–401.2
Marana	Southern Arizona	E3 300,000 · E2 65,000 Option 2 — mostly non-LPS (typical LED design)	No cap in code	3,000 lm non-cutoff shielded (no fully unshielded category)	Sign curfews: midnight in E3, 11 PM in E2.	Marana OLC Table 401.1 (2021 readoption, Ord. 2021.007)
Oro Valley	Southern Arizona	E3 300,000 · E3a 150,000 · E2 65,000 · E2a 45,000 Option II — all full cutoff (typical LED design)	No cap in code	2,000 lm	Unshielded fixtures off 11 PM to sunrise; recreation facilities by area (10 PM to midnight); wall signs off by 11 PM.	Oro Valley Zoning Code §27.5, Table 27-5 (through Ord. (O)26-05)
Sahuarita	Southern Arizona	E1b 25,000 · E1a 12,500 Option 2 — all fixtures full cutoff (typical LED design)	3500K	3,000 lm	Unshielded lighting off at 11 PM; signs 11 PM commercial, 9 PM residential; no illuminated signs in E1a.	Sahuarita OLC 2012, Table 401.1
Phoenix	Phoenix metro	None — shielding by lamp type, pole-height limits near residential districts and design-review presumptions at the property line	—	—	Sign faces over 150 W off 11 PM to sunrise; recreation may finish an event begun before 10 PM.	Phoenix City Code §23-100; Zoning Ordinance §§704.A, 705.C.6, 507 Tab A
Mesa	Phoenix metro	None — a spillage limit in foot-candles at the property line, shielding by lamp class and pole heights tied to lamp wattage	—	—	Searchlights, nonconforming fixtures and billboard uplighting off by 11 PM; recreation dark by 11 PM.	Mesa City Code §4-4-1; Zoning §11-30-5 (through Ord. 5996)
Chandler	Phoenix metro	None — a photometric study proving that no light leaves the property, with design review in place of numeric height or curfew standards	—	—	No numeric curfew in the code; design review governs.	Chandler Code §35-1902(4)(k), §35-1904 (Art. XIX, through Ord. 5160)
Gilbert	Phoenix metro	None — a property-line illuminance limit that tightens after close of business, full shielding by lamp type and pole heights near residential land	—	—	Upward lighting off after 11 PM; recreation dark by 10 PM; line limit drops to 0.1 fc one hour after close.	Gilbert Code §42-34; Land Development Code §5.2.8 (through Ord. 2978)
Glendale	Phoenix metro	None — property-line illuminance limits, pole heights near single-family homes and small per-fixture LED lumen caps for accent lighting	—	—	Searchlights and digital billboards off 11 PM to sunrise; recreation dark by 11 PM; parking lots must stay lit sunset to sunrise.	Glendale Code Ch. 26.5; UDC §35.4.400 (through Ord. O26-19 — UDC governs on conflict)
Scottsdale	Phoenix metro	None — per-luminaire standards graded by initial lumens, a lumen-based night curfew and property-line trespass limits, all under Development Review Board approval	No cap in code	—	Any fixture of 2,600 lm or more off 11 PM to 6 AM; residential sport courts off 10 PM.	Scottsdale Zoning Ordinance §7.602 Tables A.1–A.2 (through Ord. 4681)
Tempe	Phoenix metro	None — a maximum on-site illuminance at grade, with the statewide shielding statute doing the rest	—	—	No curfew in the transcribed pack.	Tempe ZDC site-illumination standards
Flagstaff	Northern Arizona	Z1 17,500 · Z2 35,000 Commercial / industrial / multifamily (Table 10-50.70.050.B)	2700K	1,750 lm	Class 1 and Class 3 (and remote Class 2) off within 30 minutes of close; sports off 9 PM Zone 1 / 11 PM Zone 2.	Flagstaff Zoning Code Table 10-50.70.050.B (Ord. 2022-27 as amended by Ord. 2026-01)
Sedona	Northern Arizona	ALL 100,000 Citywide standard (non-single-family)	3000K	None allowed	Motion-sensor lighting must time out; all existing properties comply by January 1, 2028.	Sedona LDC §5.8

Everywhere else in Arizona: the state baseline

A site outside the 13 jurisdictions above is not unregulated. No city lighting ordinance (NEC / IBC / IECC / ARS baseline) applies statewide:

Arizona statute: every outdoor light fixture must be fully or partially shielded unless it is an incandescent lamp of 150 W or less, or any other lamp of 70 W or less (ARS §49-1102).
Mercury-vapor fixtures may not be sold or installed anywhere in Arizona (ARS §49-1104).

No city-specific rules applied. If the site is inside a city, pick its rule pack above — and for unincorporated areas or cities not listed, verify with the county or town planning office.

How these pages are built, and their limits

Every value was transcribed from the governing text — the full code PDFs for Tucson/Pima County (2012 and the 2025 draft), Marana and Sahuarita; the official code hosts for Oro Valley, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Tempe, Sedona and ARS Title 49 — and verified August 8, 2026. The pages are generated from the same data file our Lighting Design Tool computes with, so a number here is the number the tool checks a design against, and a build check parses every page back against that file before it ships. Pages updated 5 September 2026.

What they are not: a code book, a photometric study or legal advice. Drafts are marked as drafts and do not govern permits. Amendments adopted after the verification date will not be here until the data file is re-verified. Lighting areas in Pima County are picked by hand from the county's own map, not looked up for you. IES illuminance targets and IECC lighting-power allowances are licensed-standard material and are not reproduced. Always confirm the current requirements with the authority having jurisdiction before you submit.

Questions people ask

Which Arizona cities have a dark-sky lumen-per-acre lighting code?

The adopted lumen-budget codes transcribed here are Tucson / Pima County, Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita, Flagstaff, Sedona. Each sets a maximum number of lumens per net acre that depends on the lighting area and, in most of them, on the mix of fixture types. The Phoenix-metro cities — Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe — regulate by shielding, pole height and foot-candles at the property line instead. The Tucson/Pima 2025 draft revision is also transcribed, marked as a draft; it is not adopted.

Is there a statewide outdoor lighting law in Arizona?

Arizona statute: every outdoor light fixture must be fully or partially shielded unless it is an incandescent lamp of 150 W or less, or any other lamp of 70 W or less (ARS §49-1102). Mercury-vapor fixtures may not be sold or installed anywhere in Arizona (ARS §49-1104). Cities and towns add their own ordinances on top of the statute; where the two differ, the stricter applies.

Where do these numbers come from, and how current are they?

Every value was transcribed from the governing code text — the full code PDFs or the official code hosts, never a summary site — and verified August 8, 2026. The pages render the same data file that drives our Lighting Design Tool, so nothing is retyped between the tool and the page. The 2025 Tucson / Pima County revision is included as a clearly marked draft. Ordinances change: confirm with the authority having jurisdiction before submittal.

What if the site is in a city that is not listed?

No city-specific rules applied. If the site is inside a city, pick its rule pack above — and for unincorporated areas or cities not listed, verify with the county or town planning office. The statewide shielding statute and the energy code still apply, and the Lighting Design Tool's baseline option checks a design against those.

Use the codes

Lighting Design Tool — pick any of these 14 rule packs on the Project & site tab and total a real fixture schedule against it, with point-by-point photometrics on your own plan.
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Parking lot lighting in Tucson — the design-build service these codes govern.
Design-build for architects and designers — electrical and lighting resolved on the drawing, not in the field.

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