Sea Turtle Lighting Rules for South Florida Beachfront Property

Why beachfront lighting is regulated at all

Hatchling sea turtles find the ocean by crawling toward the brightest, lowest horizon. On an undeveloped beach that is the sky over the water. On a developed one it can be a pool deck, a parking lot, a balcony or an unshielded wall pack, and hatchlings that crawl the wrong way generally do not survive the trip.

That is the whole basis of the rules. They are not about how much light you use in absolute terms; they are about whether light is visible from the beach, what color it is, and whether a fixture throws any part of its output above horizontal. A very bright fixture that cannot be seen from the sand is usually compliant. A dim one aimed the wrong way is not.

Florida sets a model ordinance at state level, and coastal municipalities adopt their own versions of it. The state model is the floor. The city ordinance is what you are actually inspected against, and it is frequently stricter.

The three rules every ordinance is built on

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reduces the whole subject to three words, and every local ordinance is a variation on them.

• Keep it low. Mount the fixture as low as possible and use the lowest wattage or lumen output that does the job.
• Keep it long. Use only long wavelength light: 560 nanometers or greater, which means amber, orange or red. The state rule defines this as emitting 560 nm or greater and absent wavelengths below 560 nm, which is stricter than simply looking amber.
• Keep it shielded. The fixture must be completely downward directed, and the bulb, lamp or glowing lens must not be visible from the beach.

A fixture has to satisfy all three. Amber LED in an unshielded lantern fails. A perfectly shielded downlight with a 4000K source fails. This is the single most common reason a beachfront job gets red-tagged after the fixtures are already on site.

What the state model ordinance requires

The Model Lighting Ordinance for Marine Turtle Protection is Rule 62B-55, Florida Administrative Code, and the current model was adopted with an effective date of 17 December 2020. If you want to know what a coastal city ordinance is likely to say, read this first, because most of them are adopted from it more or less intact.

• New construction. Lighting must be long wavelength, downward directed, full cutoff, fully shielded, and mounted as close to the ground or finished floor surface as possible (Sec. 3.2.1).
• Fully shielded, defined. Glowing elements, lamps, globes or reflectors completely covered by an opaque material (Sec. 1.4). A louvre or a partial hood does not qualify.
• Bollards. Not to exceed 42 inches in height (Sec. 3.3.2).
• Pier and dock lighting. Mounted no higher than 42 inches above the deck surface (Sec. 3.8.2).
• Temporary construction lighting. Less than eight feet above the adjacent floor or deck (Sec. 3.9.4.c).
• Glazing. On new construction, all glass windows, walls, railings and doors on the seaward and shore-perpendicular sides require tinted glass with an inside-to-outside light transmittance of 45 percent or less (Sec. 3.2.5).
• Existing lighting. Must be remediated by repositioning, replacing with long wavelength sources, adding directional fixtures or shielding, planting vegetation buffers, or removal (Sec. 3.7.1).
• Events. Lighting for a special event is not authorised at night during nesting season (Sec. 3.9.1).

Nesting season is not one date, and that matters

This is the detail that causes the most trouble on real projects, because people assume there is a single Florida nesting season. There is not. The dates are set jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and two buildings a few miles apart can be on different calendars.

• Broward and Palm Beach counties. 1 March to 31 October, per the state model ordinance guidance.
• Miami Beach. 1 April to 31 October, defined in Sec. 46-202 of its own ordinance. The city sets the earlier April start specifically to account for leatherback nesting.
• Other coastal counties. 1 May to 31 October.

If you are scheduling a lighting installation, a facade relamp or an exterior renovation on a beachfront property, the season dates decide whether the work can happen at night at all, and whether temporary construction lighting is permitted. Confirm the date range with the municipality, not the county, and not with a general Florida source.

Miami Beach, as an example of how strict a city can be

Miami Beach strengthened its sea turtle ordinance in 2024, and it is a good illustration of how far a municipal version can go beyond the state model.

• Low profile is 48 inches. A low-profile luminaire is defined as no higher than 48 inches off the ground (Sec. 46-202). Anything taller counts as pole lighting.
• Visibility test is broad. Light must not be directly, indirectly or cumulatively visible from the beach (Sec. 46-203(c)(2)). Indirect and cumulative are doing a lot of work in that sentence: reflected light off a pale wall or pool deck counts.
• Glazing is extensive. Tinted or filmed glass on all glass windows, walls, balconies, elevator shafts, stairwells, railings and glass doors facing the beach (Sec. 46-203(c)(8)). Elevator shafts and stairwells are the ones people forget, and they are usually lit all night.
• Deadlines are real. Existing exterior lighting: six months to reposition or modify, one year for full measures. Existing interior lighting in hotels and commercial buildings: one year. Illuminated commercial signage: 18 months (Sec. 46-203).
• Enforcement has teeth. Ten days to cure after notice, then a daily fine assessed continuously until the violation is corrected or the season ends, and removal costs can become a lien on the property (Sec. 46-204).

What this means when you are actually choosing fixtures

FWC runs a certification program for wildlife lighting, reviewed with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and publishes a list of approved fixtures and bulbs. Products are listed by type, which maps closely onto how a lighting schedule is organized: wall fixtures, ceiling mounts, step lights, pole fixtures, roadway, walkway, bollards, bullet and tape, underwater, and bulbs listed separately.

Two things about that list are worth knowing before you rely on it. Approvals carry required options and bulleted caveats, so a model number can be certified only in a particular lamp, lens or shield configuration. And it is updated regularly, which means a list printed six months ago is not authoritative.

• Specify the whole configuration. Certification usually attaches to a fixture plus a specific source and accessory, not to a catalog family.
• Watch the color temperature trap. A warm 2700K white LED is still full spectrum. It is not long wavelength and it is not compliant.
• Check the mounting height against the local definition. 42 inches under the state model, 48 inches in Miami Beach. The fixture does not change; the rule does.
• Remember interiors. On a seaward elevation, interior lighting and glazing are part of the same compliance problem.

New construction versus a retrofit

New construction is easier, because the rules are known before anything is mounted and the fixture schedule can be written to them from the start. Retrofits are where the cost sits, and the state model recognises that by allowing a range of remedies rather than demanding replacement: reposition, re-lamp to long wavelength, add a directional fixture or shield, plant a vegetation buffer, or remove the light entirely.

In practice the cheapest compliant answer on an existing building is usually a combination: relamp what can be relamped, shield what can be shielded, and replace only the fixtures where the housing itself throws light above horizontal and cannot be corrected. That is a survey exercise before it is a purchasing one.

Palm Beach County is 570, not 560

This is the detail that catches people. The state model ordinance defines long wavelength as 560 nanometers or greater, and most of the coast follows it. Palm Beach County does not. ULDC Article 14.A.9.C.1.d requires light that measures greater than 570 nanometers, and it names what is prohibited outright: bright white light, including metal halide, halogen, fluorescent, mercury vapor and incandescent.

Ten nanometers sounds like nothing until a submittal comes back rejected. A fixture certified at 560 is not automatically compliant in Palm Beach.

The other Palm Beach detail worth knowing before you design: Article 14.A applies in both unincorporated and incorporated areas of the county — except where a municipality has adopted its own sea turtle protection ordinance, in which case the city rule governs the lighting. So the order of operations is always city first, county second. Get that backwards and you design to the wrong number.

What is actually still in force at state level

Rule 62B-55 F.A.C. is still cited everywhere as “the state model ordinance”, but most of it no longer exists. 62B-55.006, the Model Standards for New Beachfront Lighting, along with .005, .007 and .008, were repealed effective 15 December 2020. Rules .001 and .009 were repealed in 2015.

What remains active is 62B-55.002 (definitions), .003 (nesting areas) and .004, which incorporates by reference The State of Florida Model Lighting Ordinance for Sea Turtle Protection, effective December 15, 2020. That document is where the current definitions live.

None of this is enforceable on your building by itself. Florida Statute 161.163 is two sentences long and directs the state to write guidelines for local government regulations. Everything an inspector can actually hold you to comes from a county or municipal ordinance. That is why the answer to “what does the turtle code require” is always another question: which jurisdiction.

Two definitions people get wrong

Long wavelength is a two-part test. The model ordinance defines it as 560 nanometers or greater and absent wavelengths below 560 nanometers. A source with a warm peak that still leaks short-wavelength energy fails the second half. Ask for the spectral power distribution, not the marketing name of the color.

Full cutoff and fully shielded are not the same thing. Full cutoff means no light projected at or above 90 degrees, determined by photometric test. Fully shielded means the glowing elements are completely covered by an opaque material. Most beachfront ordinances want both, and a fixture can pass one and fail the other.

“Line of sight from the beach” is not defined numerically anywhere I can find. The operative test in the model ordinance is visibility to an observer standing anywhere on the beach — directly, indirectly, or cumulatively. Cumulatively is the word that ends arguments: a row of individually compliant fixtures can still fail together.

Lines I represent with certified or compliant product

FWC runs a Wildlife Lighting Certification program covering both fixtures and bulbs, published by category — wall, ceiling, step, pole, roadway, walkway, bollard, linear LED, underwater and bulbs. Three lines on my card have product in this space:

FC Lighting publishes a Wildlife Friendly range stated as certified by FWC and developed in alignment with Sea Turtle Conservancy guidance, in marine-grade corrosion-resistant heavy-walled aluminum — bollards, step lights and surface fixtures. One caution I raise early on every job: their category page filters amber at 590 to 600 nm while the individual bollard sheets state a minimum of 560 nm. Confirm the wavelength against the specific ordinance before submittal.

Liton publishes a dedicated turtle-safe program at 590 nm, stated as certified and recommended by FWC with the certification document published, and offers a marine-grade finish option on the amber bollards.

DMF Lighting makes a turtle-friendly recessed downlight — the DRD2 SquareFrame, stated as compliant with FWC guidelines using a red-orange LED above 560 nm with no color filter, UL wet location on flanged trims, with its own IES files. A coastal-ordinance answer in a recessed downlight is rare.

FWC publishes its own caveat on all of this, and it is worth repeating: although fixtures and lamps are certified, they may not be appropriate on every property or every location within a property. Certification is the start of the conversation, not the end of it.

Broward County: the rule is an outdoor lighting code, not a turtle ordinance

Broward is often listed as having a 1989 sea turtle lighting ordinance. What is actually in force in the unincorporated county today is Sec. 39-112, Outdoor lighting — a countywide code from 2019 that caps total lumens per square foot of hardscape, caps color temperature at 3000K, requires full cutoff, and makes a sealed photometric plan a condition of the certificate of occupancy.

It handles wildlife by reference rather than by wavelength: it defines wildlife friendly lighting as fixtures and bulbs certified by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission through the Wildlife Lighting Certification Program, and requires it outright in the LZ-0 zone. Sites with or adjacent to environmentally sensitive habitat must emit 560 nm or greater.

Full detail on the Broward outdoor lighting page. Cities inside Broward regulate separately — check the city first.

Common questions about sea turtle lighting

Where this comes from

• FWC — Sea Turtles and Lights — the three rules and the 560 nm threshold
• FWC — Wildlife Lighting certification and certified products — the certification program and the approved fixture list
• Florida DEP — Model Lighting Ordinance for Marine Turtle Protection, Rule 62B-55, F.A.C. — section numbers, mounting heights, glazing and nesting season guidance
• City of Miami Beach — Sea Turtle Nesting Protection Ordinance 2024-4652 — the Miami Beach dates, definitions, deadlines and penalties

All codes and standards · Outdoor and landscape lighting · Light poles and structures · Project services · Request a quote · Turtle-friendly fixtures I represent

Broward city ordinances, read September 2026 from the codified text: Fort Lauderdale Ch. 6 Art. III · Hollywood Ch. 108 · Pompano Beach Sec. 155.5402 · Deerfield Beach Sec. 34-60 · Dania Beach Sec. 5-18 · Hallandale Beach Ch. 6 Art. I · Hillsboro Beach Sec. 3-9 · State Model Lighting Ordinance (62B-55, effective 17 Dec 2020) · FWC ordinance registry.