Getting Permanent Lights Approved: What a Raleigh Historic Commission Hearing Taught Me

By Jon Klinger · October 7, 2026

TL;DR: On February 27, 2025, I presented a permanent lighting plan for 516 N Blount Street to the Raleigh Historic Development Commission's Certificate of Appropriateness Committee. It was approved 4 to 1. The commission cares less about how many fixtures you have than about whether the light looks like it belongs. Fixtures on the Minor Works list can often be approved by staff, so call them before you buy anything.

I was born in Raleigh, and in February 2025 I stood in front of the committee to present the application on the homeowner's behalf. Here is what happened and what I would tell anyone with a historic home who wants outdoor lighting.

What happened

516 N Blount Street is the 1893 House, listed in the historic record as the Brogdon-Dorminy-Brooks House, in the Blount Street Historic District, which the City treats as a general historic district. On February 27, 2025, the Certificate of Appropriateness Committee of the Raleigh Historic Development Commission heard our lighting application. The vote was 4 to 1 in favor. The decision is final once the next month's minutes are signed.

Staff raised two concerns. One was overlap with lighting that had been approved for the house earlier. The other was facade illumination under the commission's design guidelines.

What the commission actually worries about

The Raleigh Historic Development Commission (RHDC) Design Guidelines, effective May 8, 2017, say two things that matter for lighting. Guideline 1.7.7:

"It is not appropriate to indiscriminately light or over-illuminate facades or front yards in historic districts or landmark properties of residential character."

And guideline 1.7.11 says it is not appropriate to introduce "incongruous lighting, such as creating a runway effect with multiple footlights along front walks."

Read those twice. Neither one bans lighting. They ban lighting that shouts: a lit-up facade, or a row of path lights like an airport. Everything we proposed was built around those two sentences.

The numbers that carried it

We brought numbers. This is the plan we submitted:

  • All low-voltage LED, 3000K (warm white).
  • Six bronze recessed well lights on the front porch: 2 W each, 15 degree beam, integrated shroud.
  • Two shrouded 2 W accent lights, 25 degree beam, on the balcony, aimed at the soffit so the light is indirect.
  • Two shrouded 2 W accent lights, 25 degree beam, at ground level, aimed at the underside of the balcony.
  • Three copper path lights, alternating.

"these are two watt lights ... they don't put out much light" (from the hearing)

On the runway effect, I told the committee we spaced the path lights a little wider than the manufacturer's recommended maximum, on purpose. The manufacturer's spacing is designed to make an even pool of light. Guideline 1.7.11 does not want a pool.

"they are spaced a little bit larger than the maximum distance ... recommended by manufacturing and by industry norms and that was to minimize the runway effect" (from the hearing)

The shrouds and narrow beams do the same job for the fixtures on the building:

"we have a 15 degree bulb ... if they can see the light they're trying to see the light" (from the hearing)

Then there is light trespass. Raleigh's Unified Development Ordinance, Sec. 7.4.4, says: "The maximum light level of any light fixture cannot exceed 0.5 footcandles measured at the property line of any Residential District and 2.0 footcandles measured at the right-of-way line of a street." The nearest property line to this house is 16.4 feet away, and our analysis expected the light to stay well below the 0.5 footcandle limit. To be straight about it, that is the applicant's analysis, not a field measurement. In deliberation the footcandle data was called helpful evidence, which makes sense: it gave the committee something checkable.

The last piece was a comparison property in the same district, 421 N Blount. It has an existing lighting installation: uplighting, a pendant, and sconces, with no path lights. I recalled it being approved around 2016 or 2017, though I could not confirm the year. I used it as a comparison, not as my own work. My argument was that our plan was congruous with what the district had already accepted:

"I would not call it ... over lit or ... indiscriminately lit since it is congruous with 421 North Blount" (from the hearing)

A note on the quotes: they come from the auto-generated captions of the hearing video, with filler words trimmed (marked with "..."), and I corrected a couple of words the captions garbled against the application. The video is linked at the bottom if you want to check my work.

What about the plan changes

A couple of items came up in questions from the committee. The recessed can lights on the front porch and a gas light at the front walk came from an earlier approval, and neither was installed or going forward. A hanging pendant from that earlier approval had been missing from our original plan, so we added it to the updated materials. These were not concessions I offered the committee. They were items from that earlier approval, clarified in the Q&A.

What we prepare when your HOA or review board has to say yes

The hearing is where I learned what a review body actually wants in front of it. It was not an HOA, and I am not making any claim about how HOAs work or what any particular community's rules say. Those come from your own covenants and review board. But the method transfers, and it is what we put together for this approval:

  • A written description of every fixture type: count, wattage, beam angle, color temperature, finish, shielding, and what each one is for.
  • A scaled existing plan, a scaled proposed plan, and an elevation showing the beam cones.
  • A light-trespass analysis against the city limit, with the distance to the nearest property line.
  • Daytime photos of current conditions, plus night photos of comparable lit homes in the same neighborhood.
  • Updated materials when staff raise concerns. We filed ours on hearing day.
  • Showing up in person to answer questions.

Here is the honest lesson. Our daytime photos were captioned "no ambient lighting," and a neighbor challenged them with night photos of their own. Night photos belong in the first submission, not in your rebuttal.

We did the same homework for Cary. Our Cary Christmas lights page lays out what the recorded covenants for Lochmere, MacGregor Downs and Preston actually require, with links to the documents. Same idea: know the written rules first, then design to them.

Where permanent RGB comes in

The rear of that house was different. The back stairs are new construction, and there we used an RGB addressable strip tucked under the lip of the stair treads, with a 3000K safety mode. The same kind of addressable RGB strip is the idea behind permanent RGB lights on a roofline, with a plain warm white mode when you want it. On safety versus show, here is how I put it to the committee about the lighting overall:

"this is not about being uplet this is about safety lighting mostly" (from the hearing)

The caption says "uplet." I am fairly sure I said "uplit."

What this means if you live in Oakwood, on Blount Street, or in Boylan Heights

Oakwood and Boylan Heights are both Raleigh historic districts, and Blount Street is another. I would not assume the rules are identical in each, so confirm yours with staff. Here is what the ordinance says in general:

  • Under UDO Sec. 10.2.15, the COA Committee "has jurisdiction for certificates of appropriateness for the exterior of all properties within the -HOD-G and -HOD-S" overlay districts.
  • The Minor Works List includes "Lighting fixtures: Alteration/Construction/Installation/Removal of." That means staff can often approve lighting administratively, without a hearing.
  • Staff refer a project to the Committee if the change is "substantial," does "not meet the design standards," or is "of a precedent-setting nature."
  • The City's COA page says exterior changes in these districts need a certificate before work begins.

Before you hang anything you would call permanent, call Raleigh historic preservation staff at 919-996-4478 or email historicpreservation@raleighnc.gov. Ask first.

If you do end up in front of the committee, my advice is simple: bring numbers, bring a comparison the commissioners can look up, and show them you read guidelines 1.7.7 and 1.7.11 before you arrived.

Want an estimate?

Send us your address and we will give you an estimate. For historic homes, we start with a lighting plan and the COA conversation, and we talk about the product after that.

Sources

← Back to Blog