Bulloch County, GA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Bulloch County Zoning Ordinance § 2212(a)(10) sets the lighting standard for billboards anywhere they are permitted in unincorporated Bulloch County, which under Section 2211 means only sign district 2, the highway-fronting commercial and industrial zoning along state and federal routes. Any billboard that is illuminated must use base-mounted lights, meaning the light source sits at the bottom of the structure and shines up onto the face rather than glowing from within or from the top down, and those lights must be controlled by photo-electric cells so they activate automatically with ambient darkness rather than running on a timer or staying lit around the clock.

The ordinance then singles out the effects the county does not want on a billboard face: neon lighting, animation, and running lights are all listed as additional lighting that is prohibited, on top of the base-mounted, photo-electric requirement. A separate clause in the same subsection makes the standard technology-neutral going forward by prohibiting any billboard lighting, however produced, that impairs the vision of the traveling public. Because billboards sit within the same article as electronic message center signs, a billboard combining a static illuminated face with a digital component must satisfy both the Section 2212(a)(10) lighting rule and the separate brightness and dimming requirements of Section 2208. Billboards up to 672 square feet are allowed if visible from I-16, capped at 378 square feet elsewhere, per Section 2212(a)(2).