Ankeny, IA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Ankeny Code of Ordinances § 195.07(5)(A)(4) sets a two-tier brightness ceiling for any digital advertising sign converted from a nonconforming billboard: no more than 5,000 NITS of luminance during daylight hours, dropping to no more than 500 NITS during the period from dusk to dawn, a tenfold reduction meant to keep the sign from glaring at drivers after dark. Section 195.07(5)(A)(5) backs that ceiling with an equipment mandate: the sign must carry either an automatic dimmer control or ambient light monitors that actually produce the shift from the higher daytime illumination level to the lower nighttime one, rather than leaving the reduction to a manual setting.

The lighting rule sits inside the same digital-conversion criteria that require removing two old billboard faces per new digital face and capping the new sign at the replaced sign's height and size, so the brightness limits apply only to the narrow class of converted billboard signs, not to the general no-flashing-signs rule in § 195.07(1)(C) that governs other illuminated and electronic message signs citywide. Section 195.07(5)(A)(6) through (8) reinforce the same anti-glare intent, requiring each displayed image to hold for a minimum of eight seconds, an instantaneous rather than special-effect transition between images, and a fully static image with no motion, animation, scrolling text or sequential displays.