Kalamazoo, MI Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

City Code § 50-9.8 governs how any off-premises sign, including billboards, may be lit. Subsection A requires that any external light source aimed at illuminating a sign face be directed inward and shielded from adjacent residential zoning districts and public rights-of-way, and it bars the light source itself from being directly visible from any adjacent property in a residential zone district or from the right-of-way; the same subsection separately forbids illumination that adversely affects driver visibility on adjacent public thoroughfares. Subsection B is an outright ban on beacon lights and strobe lights on off-premises signs, with no exception listed.

Subsection C prohibits colored lighting on a sign wherever it could be confused with or mistaken for a traffic-control device, protecting intersections and travel lanes near billboards. Subsection D backs these rules with a catch-all: neither direct light from the fixture nor light reflected off the sign face may create a traffic hazard for drivers on the public right-of-way. These illumination standards sit in Article 9 alongside the digital billboard rules of § 50-9.7 and the citywide site-lighting standards of Article 10, and the Community Planning and Economic Development Department administers sign permits under this article.

A billboard owner who installs unshielded floodlights, a beacon, a strobe, or colored lighting that reads as a traffic signal is out of compliance the moment the fixture is energized, regardless of whether a driver complaint is ever logged.