Hialeah, FL Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Hialeah measures billboard brightness against the ambient light around it, not a fixed number. Sec. 74-150(i)(4)a bars any illumination that would materially restrict or impact the basic enjoyment of an abutting or adjacent use, particularly a residential one. 3-foot candles above the ambient light level, measured with a foot-candle meter at a preset distance tied to the sign's face size: 150 feet for a 12-by-25-foot face and 250 feet for a 14-by-48-foot face. The same subsection governs how a digital message may change: each message must display for a minimum of 8 seconds as a completely static image, with no more than 2 seconds allowed to transition to the next message, and the change must occur simultaneously across the whole face rather than through animation, scrolling or fading.

If the display malfunctions, the sign's default programming must either freeze the last image in place, shut the display off entirely, or show a full black screen, so a broken sign can't flash or cycle uncontrolled. This illumination standard is specific to the billboard replacement program under Sec. 74-150; on-premise LED business signs regulated under Sec. to midnight operating window that the billboard program's text does not separately impose.