Charleston, WV Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Under the Charleston Zoning Ordinance's off-premise sign rules, billboards may be illuminated unless a specific rule says otherwise, but the fixture has to be built so no light bulb, tube, filament, or similar light source is visible past the property line. The code separately bars signs from using lights to fake movement or from flashing, intermittent, or variable-intensity lighting. Off-premise electronic message boards get their own numeric cap: luminance can't exceed 5,000 nits between sunrise and sunset or 250 nits at night, and messages must hold for at least 8 seconds with no transition graphics.