Bossier City, LA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Section 9.9 of the Unified Development Code lays out the lighting rules for off-premises billboards, and it starts by banning the most disruptive light sources outright. No sign can carry a revolving or rotating beam or beacon that simulates emergency lighting, and flashing is barred except for signs displaying routine public-service information such as the time, date, or temperature; even those are kept at least 1,000 feet from any residential property. Animated displays, including message center or video boards, face their own separation rule under Section 9.9.2: none within 720 feet of residentially zoned property where the sign face is visible, and none at all within 500 feet of residential property regardless of visibility, with LED and similar static-face signs kept at least 200 feet away.

Section 9.9.3 bars neon, LED, or similar electronic technology entirely within the A-1 airbase buffer district and the Barksdale Air Force Base north approach zone. Where floodlights or goose-neck reflectors are used, Section 9.9.4 requires the light source to aim at the sign face and be shielded so no beam reaches the interstate highway or a public street, and the fixtures must sit below the sign face and point upward, a rule flipped for the north approach zone under Section 9.9.5, where new or altered lighting must instead sit above the face and point down.

Internally illuminated signs, including Electronic Message Centers, cannot exceed 0.3 footcandles above ambient lighting under Section 9.9.7.A, and every such sign needs an automatic light-sensing device, typically a photocell, that dims it in response to daylight. If the Metropolitan Planning Commission receives a nuisance complaint about a sign's brightness, Section 9.9.7.E gives the owner a window to submit a manufacturer's or engineer's compliance report; missing the fourteen calendar day deadline after notification forces the sign to be disabled or removed.