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Codes · Miami-Dade County

Miami-Dade County outdoor lighting — Sec. 33-4.1 and the new Sec. 24-48.27

A half-footcandle spill limit and an engineer's field check inland. On the beach, a county turtle section adopted in April 2026 that only encourages — which means the city ordinance is what fails your schedule.

The county rule is a spill limit and a field check

Miami-Dade County Code Sec. 33-4.1, Outdoor lighting, Chapter 33 Zoning, Article I. Version read: 17 June 2026. Adopted by Ord. 63-47 and amended by Ord. 75-73, Ord. 79-114 and Ord. 95-215 — the last change was December 1995, so this is a settled section, not a moving target.

It applies to area lighting: the code names tennis courts, golf courses, sporting areas or grounds, parking lots or areas, amusement or entertainment areas, and outside lighting for security purposes.

  • Detailed plans go to the Department showing location, height, type of lights, shades, deflectors and beam directions.
  • The permit turns on nuisance and glare, not on a number. Lighting must be located, oriented, adjusted and shielded so it is deflected, shaded and focused away from adjacent property, does not become a nuisance to it, and creates no traffic hazard on adjacent streets by reason of glare.
  • Fail that review and it goes to public hearing. If the Department determines the lighting does not conform, no permit issues and no such lighting is permitted until approved after a public hearing.
  • One half footcandle, both planes. In the RU, EU, AU and GU zones, overspill onto adjacent properties or structures may not exceed one-half footcandle vertical and one-half footcandle horizontal. The same requirement reaches night lighting in BU and IU zones abutting an RU, EU, AU or GU zone.
  • A letter of compliance gates permanent use. The installation cannot be placed in permanent use until a registered engineer or architect, or their authorized representative, states in writing that it has been field checked and meets those requirements.
  • Sign lights are not regulated by this section.
Read that last one twice. Like Broward, Miami-Dade decides compliance in the field, not on the drawing. A higher-output head swapped in late moves the spill number, and the letter has to describe what is actually installed.

The turtle section is new, and it is advisory

On 21 April 2026 the Board of County Commissioners adopted a new Sec. 24-48.27, providing guidelines for the protection of sea turtle nesting, on second reading of legislative file 260199. Before that, Miami-Dade had no countywide sea turtle lighting ordinance at all.

What matters for a schedule is how it is written. Its operative verbs are encouraged, discouraged and should. It carries no penalty, no enforcement provision, no permit requirement and no inspection. It applies by line of sight to the beach rather than by jurisdiction.

The measures it describes:

  • Sources measuring greater than 560 nanometers, and absent wavelengths below 560 nm.
  • Low pressure sodium vapor, true red neon, and red, orange or amber LED named as acceptable.
  • A source higher than 48 inches off the ground is treated as pole lighting.
  • Temporary construction lights mounted no more than 15 feet above the ground.
  • Opaque shields covering an arc of at least 180 degrees.
  • Nesting season 1 March through 31 October. Signage not illuminated between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. in season; special event lighting not visible from the beach after 9 p.m.

Incandescent, mercury vapor, metal halide, sodium and fluorescent are discouraged in that section, not banned.

I have not printed an ordinance number for it. The pre-enactment file leaves the number blank and I could not confirm the assigned number on a primary source. If you need to cite it in a submittal, call the Clerk of the Board first.

The city ordinance is what fails your schedule

Almost every oceanfront site in Miami-Dade sits inside a municipality — Miami Beach, Surfside, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Golden Beach, Key Biscayne. The county section will not reject your fixtures. The city one will.

Miami Beach is the one to watch. It adopted Ordinance 2024-4652 on 30 October 2024, amending Chapter 46 Article V, with mandatory language, penalties and phased compliance deadlines, and a nesting season of 1 April through 31 October — a month shorter than the county figure. Do not carry one season date across a county line, or across a city line inside the county.

Two cautions on that paragraph: I read the Miami Beach ordinance on a City program site rather than on the municipal code itself, so confirm the section numbers before they go in a submittal. And Bal Harbour is oceanfront but appears on no state list — whether it has its own lighting ordinance is something I have not checked.

The state registry is behind on this county

The FWC sea turtle ordinance registry lists five Miami-Dade municipalities and no county ordinance — it has not caught the April 2026 adoption. It also dates Miami Beach to 2006, which is roughly two years stale on the single jurisdiction you are most likely to be quoting. The page carries no last-updated date, so its staleness is not self-disclosing.

This is the same pattern as Broward, where the registry described a 1989 turtle ordinance while the rule actually in force was a 2019 dark sky ordinance under a different section. Treat the registry as a place to find a citation, never as the citation.

Wildlife friendly is not a certification you can buy right now

Nothing in the Miami-Dade section requires an FWC-certified fixture. It asks for a wavelength and a shield. That distinction matters, because the FWC Wildlife Lighting Certification Program is closed — certifications ran two years from issuance, the ones in circulation were issued in 2018 and 2019, and the program did not reopen in Spring 2025 as scheduled.

So do not write a specification that makes FWC certification a condition of approval. Build the package on the spectral power distribution, the photometric file and a cut sheet that evidences the shielding. I keep the wavelength evidence for every amber model I can quote on the turtle-safe fixture finder.

Where this changes a specification

  • Inland Miami-Dade job in a residential zone: the binding number is one-half footcandle at the property line, both planes, and someone has to sign that it was field checked. Ask for the photometric plan early.
  • Oceanfront job: ignore the county section and read the city ordinance. Season dates and enforcement both live there.
  • Any job where a fixture gets swapped late: the field check is what catches it, after the money is spent.
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Source

Sec. 33-4.1 read from the Miami-Dade County Code of Ordinances, Chapter 33 Article I, version dated 17 June 2026. Sec. 24-48.27 read from Miami-Dade legislative file 260199 and the Clerk of the Board public notice for the 21 April 2026 second reading. FWC criteria and certification status from myfwc.com. State wavelength definition from the Florida model lighting ordinance under Rule 62B-55. Where I could not verify something on a primary source — the assigned ordinance number for 24-48.27, whether a sealed photometric plan is required, whether any certificate of occupancy is conditioned on a field photometric test — I have said so rather than filled the gap.