Freeport Quietly Advances Sweeping Outdoor Lighting Ordinance

May 21, 2026 | Freeport, IL

The Freeport City Council quietly advanced a significant new outdoor lighting ordinance during the May 18, 2026 council meeting, moving Ordinance #2026-33 forward for second reading with minimal public discussion despite the proposal creating an entirely new regulatory chapter governing outdoor lighting throughout the city.

Presented by Community and Economic Development Director Gertrude Heimerdinger, the ordinance would establish Chapter 1480 within the City of Freeport’s codified ordinances and create enforceable standards for outdoor lighting installations on commercial and multi-family properties.

According to the city memo accompanying the proposal, the ordinance is intended to reduce nuisance lighting, improve public safety, minimize light pollution, and establish consistent lighting standards across the community.

During discussion, 2nd Ward Alderwoman Linda Johnson asked perhaps the most important practical question of the evening: who exactly would this ordinance affect?

Director Heimerdinger assured council that the ordinance would only apply to commercial properties, organizations, and residential structures containing more than three dwelling units. She further clarified that single-family homeowners would not be impacted.

That explanation aligns with the language included within the ordinance itself, which specifically exempts residential structures containing fewer than four dwelling units located within residential zoning districts.

After that brief exchange, the council moved the ordinance forward for second reading without additional substantive discussion.

What the Ordinance Actually Regulates

At first glance, many residents may assume this proposal simply prevents someone from installing obnoxiously bright floodlights aimed into a neighbor’s bedroom window.

But the ordinance goes far beyond that.

The proposal creates a detailed technical lighting code complete with measurable engineering standards, enforcement procedures, professional certification requirements, and financial penalties.

Among the major provisions are:

• Maximum light spillover limits measured in “footcandles”

• Mandatory shielding requirements to reduce glare

• Restrictions on flashing lights, searchlights, and laser displays

• Regulations for illuminated signs and electronic message centers

• Mandatory “Dark Sky” compliant fixtures for many new projects

• Photometric studies and professionally certified lighting plans for certain installations

• Fines up to $750 per violation per day for noncompliance

Perhaps most notably, the ordinance requires all existing non-exempt lighting to come into compliance no later than January 1, 2027.

Understanding “Footcandles”

One of the most technical — and perhaps least understood — aspects of the ordinance is its repeated use of “footcandles” as the city’s official measurement standard for light intensity.

The ordinance specifically states:

• Outdoor lighting may not exceed 1.50 footcandles at property lines adjoining residential districts.

• Outdoor lighting may not exceed 2.00 footcandles at property lines adjoining non-residential districts.

So what exactly is a footcandle?

A footcandle is a measurement of how much light actually reaches a surface. Technically, one footcandle equals the amount of light cast by one candle onto a surface one foot away.

While that may sound abstract, real-world examples make it easier to understand:

Full moonlight = 0.01 fc

Candle one foot away = 1 fc

Dim residential hallway = 1–2 fc

Typical front porch light area = 1–3 fc

Parking lot lighting = 2–5 fc

Gas station canopy = 20–50 fc

Grocery store interior = 30–50 fc

In practical terms, the ordinance is attempting to ensure that by the time light reaches a neighboring property line, it remains relatively dim and controlled.

For example, a commercial parking lot may still be brightly illuminated within its own property boundaries. But once that light reaches the edge of the property, it must drop below the ordinance thresholds.

That is where shielding, fixture direction, mounting height, and fixture design become critical.

In many ways, the ordinance is less about how bright a property can be and more about where that light is allowed to travel.

The Ordinance Creates Technical Enforcement Standards

The ordinance does not simply rely on subjective complaints from neighbors.

It establishes measurable enforcement standards and specifically outlines how the city would conduct testing.

According to the ordinance, measurements must be taken:

• After dark

• Using calibrated light meters

• At property lines

• With lights both on and off to isolate the actual lighting source being measured

The ordinance also requires photometric studies and professionally certified lighting plans for many projects involving new outdoor lighting installations.

For larger commercial developments, those requirements are fairly common.

But for smaller businesses, nonprofits, churches, and property owners, this may represent an entirely new level of technical regulation many have never encountered before in Freeport.

Existing Properties Will Not Be Grandfathered In

One of the most important details buried within the ordinance is that existing non-compliant lighting is not permanently exempt.

Instead, the ordinance requires all non-exempt lighting to be brought into compliance by January 1, 2027.

That means older commercial properties with excessive lighting, poorly shielded fixtures, or overly bright signage may eventually be required to modify or replace existing systems.

F4F Chairman’s Analysis

I personally fully support this ordinance.

In fact, I was serving on the Planning Commission when discussions about creating an outdoor lighting ordinance first began before Mayor Jodi Miller removed me from the commission after securing her third term.

At the time, there were discussions about creating a much broader ordinance that could have impacted residential homeowners throughout the city. I strongly advised the commission to start smaller and focus primarily on commercial properties or potentially the downtown district first.

Those conversations were happening at the same time residents in the Fifth and Third Wards were fighting like hell simply to get additional street lights installed on portions of the east side of Freeport.

I warned at the time that heavily regulating residential homeowners’ lighting while neighborhoods were increasingly worried about crime would be completely counterproductive.

No homeowner attempting to make their property safer or deter criminal activity should have to worry about fighting city hall or potentially being fined simply because they installed brighter lighting around their home.

That would have been a massive mistake.

So I genuinely give credit to the current Planning Commission for listening and ultimately limiting the ordinance primarily to commercial and larger multi-family properties.

I am also glad existing commercial properties are not simply being grandfathered forever. If the city is serious about addressing nuisance lighting, then the standards should eventually apply to everyone covered under the ordinance, not just future developments.

And this issue is not theoretical to me personally.

I live directly across the street from a commercial and rental property owner that essentially has a billboard sitting in the front yard of a historic neighborhood.

Rather than sitting on our front porches enjoying evenings looking at historic homes, mature landscaping, and one of Freeport’s beautiful older neighborhoods, residents instead stare at an aggressively bright white commercial sign dominating the streetscape.

That absolutely impacts neighboring homeowners’ quality of life.

That is exactly the type of situation this ordinance should help address.

But this meeting also highlighted a continuing problem with how major policy changes move through Freeport city government.

This ordinance creates technical engineering standards, measurable compliance requirements, enforcement procedures, professional certification requirements, and significant penalties.

Yet it moved through first reading with almost no meaningful public discussion from council.

Good government requires more than simply voting yes.

It requires public debate and discussion.

It requires elected officials asking difficult questions. It requires them to know what they are voting for or against.

Ask yourself…

Do you now know what a footcandle is?

Now ask:

Who on our city council knows enough to say and vote that a maximum of 1.5 footcandles is the appropriate amount?

We must start slowing down long enough for the residents expected to comply with these ordinances and the people passing them to fully understand what is actually being created.

Freeport deserves reasonable lighting standards. But residents also deserve a city government willing to fully explain the regulations they are passing and demonstrate that they fully understand them before quietly turning them into law.