Fayetteville, NC Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Unified Development Ordinance § 30-5.L.3.C (Illuminated Signs) sets the baseline for every sign in the city: illuminated signs must be shielded and directed so they do not produce glare, excessive light, or concentrations of light that interfere with vehicular or pedestrian safety, and any external source of illumination, including a spotlight or floodlight, must be shielded from streets and adjoining property and placed so the light source itself is never directly visible from adjacent residentially zoned or used property. Subsection C.4 then draws the billboard exception explicitly: freestanding signs taller than six feet are restricted to internal illumination only, "other than Billboard Signs," meaning off-premises billboards, which Table 30-5.L.8.B.5 caps at 25 feet in the LI district and 30 feet in HI, may be lit externally by ground-mounted floodlights, a common method for classic billboard faces.

That permission is not unconditional: the general shielding, glare, and residential-visibility rules in C.1 through C.3 still bind every billboard light fixture, and a permit under § 30-5.L.2.B is required before the sign or its lighting is installed. Because billboards are limited to the LI and HI industrial districts and must sit at least 500 feet from any residential zoning district or residential structure under the location restrictions in Table 30-5.L.8.B.5, the residential-visibility shielding rule is the practical limit that keeps a billboard's floodlights from spilling onto neighboring homes.