Haverhill, MA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Haverhill regulates sign and billboard lighting through two overlapping provisions of its zoning ordinance. Section 6.2.3(1) requires that light from any illuminated sign be so shaded or directed that the light intensity or brightness shall not be objectionable to surrounding areas, a general glare standard that applies to every sign in every district. Section 6.2.3(4) separately bars both direct and reflected light from a sign's fixtures from creating a traffic hazard to the operation of motor vehicles on public roads, language aimed squarely at billboards and freestanding signs near intersections and highway frontage.

Section 6.2.3(5) goes further on hardware: no sign anywhere in the city may use exposed reflective-type bulbs, strobe lights or incandescent lamps on its exterior surface. Beyond individual signs, the ordinance's performance standards for larger nonresidential, multifamily or mixed-use projects add a citywide shielding requirement. Under § 6.3.3(1), applicable to any project over 10,000 square feet of floor area or more than 10 dwelling units, all outdoor light fixtures shall be shielded, and glare or overspill is to be confined within the property boundaries, with lights barred from escaping unshielded into the night sky.

A billboard or large sign built as part of such a development has to satisfy both the sign-specific rules in § 6.2.3 and the site-wide shielding standard in § 6.3.3.