Street Lighting

Statutes

• Ch. 35.43 RCW – Local Improvement Districts
• RCW 35.72.020 – Authorizes cities, towns and counties to enter into latecomer agreements to reimburse street lighting projects.
• RCW 36.88.015 – Authorizes counties to create county road improvement districts for construction, installation, improvement, operation, and maintenance of street and road lighting systems for any county roads.
• RCW 54.16.120 – Local utility districts authorized for providing street lighting.

Water-Sewer Districts

• RCW 57.08.060 – Authorizes water-sewer districts to acquire, construct, maintain, operate, and develop street lighting systems.
• RCW 57.16.010 – General comprehensive plan of improvements (4): "For a general comprehensive plan for street lighting, the commissioners shall investigate all portions and sections of the district and adopt a general comprehensive plan for street lighting for the district suitable and adequate for present and future needs."
• RCW 87.03.016 – Authorizes irrigation districts to provide street lighting.

Selected Court Decisions and Attorney General Opinions

• Okeson v. City of Seattle (2003) – The question of whether a city has authority to incorporate the expenses of city streetlights within the electrical rates charged to customers of the city's electrical utility depends upon (1) whether providing streetlights is a governmental or a proprietary function of the local government; and (2) whether the costs imposed upon utility customers are a tax or a fee. In this case the court determined that maintenance of a street lighting system is a governmental function and the street lighting charges imposed on utility ratepayers was not lawfully imposed in accordance with express statutory or constitutional authority. Maintenance of a street lighting system is a governmental function and shifting streetlight costs to ratepayers is designed to raise revenue for the general city budget. Because there is no relationship between electricity used by utility customers and energy used by streetlights, these charges are a tax not a fee.
• AGO 2001 No. 1 – Cities and towns lack the authority to operate their street lighting as a utility or to impose a charge on the city's utility customers for the cost of furnishing street lighting.
• Covell v. Seattle (1995) – The city's street utility charge was declared unconstitutional. Seattle adopted a street utility ordinance, but the court held that the street utility charges constitute a property tax, and that they violate article 7, section 1 of the state constitution, because the tax is not uniform.

Examples of Design Standards

• Bremerton Public Works and Utilities Engineering Standards, Division Seven, Street Lighting (2022)
• Ellensburg
  • Development Standards, Section 8, Illumination Standards (2015)
  • Illumination Details (2015)
• Kennewick
  • Standard Specifications for Street Light Construction (2018, see Section 6)
  • Residential Street Lights (2004)
• Vancouver
  • T21-01A City Street Lighting Requirements Schedule – Luminance Method Straight Sections
  • T21-01B City Street Lighting Requirements Schedule – Luminance Method Curved Sections

Examples of Ordinances, Policies, and Plans

• Bonney Lake
  • Municipal Code Ch. 12.28 – Street Lighting
  • Street Lighting Improvements and Standards (2006) – Description of how the city improved its street lighting system, including municipal code updates, priority rankings, new design standards, an annual CIP budget item, and identification of “low-hanging fruit” to meet the new codes.
• Kent Resolution No. 1937 (2016) – Adopting a street light policy.
• Pierce County Resolution No. R2006-138s – Policy on street illumination; makes modifications to Title 17B and the Manual on Design Guidelines and Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction.
• SeaTac 
  • Municipal Code Title 17 – Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
  • Municipal Code Ch. 17.20 – Exterior Lighting
  • Municipal Code Ch. 17.24 – Parking Lot Lighting
  • Municipal Code Ch. 17.32 – Street Lighting

Examples of Rates

• Benton PUD Customer Service Rates and Policies (2025) – See Schedule 51 (street lighting) and Schedule 61 (security lighting).
• Cowlitz County PUD Rates, Fees, and Policies – See Schedule 40 (public street lighting) and Schedule 10 (private street and area lighting).
• Grant County PUD No. 2 Rates and Fees
• Lewis County PUD No. 1 Rates and Fees – See Security Lighting Service and Street Lighting Service.
• Seattle City Light Schedule T Contract Street and Area Lighting Rates - Streetlights
• Tacoma Power
  • Rates Schedule H-1 – Street Lighting and Traffic Signal Service
  • Schedule H-2 – Private Off Street Lighting Service

Recommended Resources

• American National Standards Institute/ Illuminating Engineering Society of North America: RP-8-22 Recommended Practice: Lighting Roadway and Parking Facilities (2022)
• American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials: Roadway Lighting Design Guide (2018)
• Illumination Engineering Society/ International Dark Sky Association: Model Lighting Ordinance (2021)
• Lighting Research Center: Implementation of Decision-Making Tools that Address Light Pollution for Localities Planning Street Lighting (2003)
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Lighting Research Center: Transportation Lighting and Safety
• US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration: Pedestrian Lighting Primer (FHWA-SA-21-087) (2022)
• US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration: Lighting Handbook (FHWA-SA23-004) (2023)
• Washington Traffic Safety Commission: Report to the Legislature, Street Lighting and Safety Study (2025) – Identifies needs and gaps in available resources related to street lighting across the state, and provides recommendations to address them.