Stearns County, MN Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

2(B) of Land Use and Zoning Ordinance No. 439 sets the county's illumination standard for every sign, including off-premise signs (billboards), erected in the unincorporated area. Illumination itself is allowed, but the ordinance draws a hard line at devices that give off an intermittent or rotating beam of light: those are prohibited outright, which rules out flashing or sweeping-beam lighting on any sign face. Where a sign is lit with flood lighting, the fixture has to be focused on the sign itself rather than aimed outward, and the light cannot reflect directly onto a public street or onto a residential structure.

The ordinance also caps the reach of the glow: signs cannot be illuminated beyond the lot line on which they sit, so light spilling onto a neighboring parcel is a violation regardless of the source. 11 before an off-premise sign can be erected, altered or moved, while other sign types are exempt from that permit. Off-premise signs are further confined to industrial and commercial districts as a conditional use, capped at 600 square feet along principal arterial streets, 400 square feet on other roads, and 30 feet in height, and must sit at least 500 feet from parks, historical sites and picnic or rest areas and 1,300 feet from any other off-premise sign.

23 to force a noncompliant fixture into compliance, with the property owner given a written deadline and a right to appeal to the Board of Adjustment within ten business days.