Kansas City, MO Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)
Key Facts
- Beam restriction
- Beams may not hit roadway or homes
- Display type
- No flashing/electronic displays on standard billboards
- Daytime brightness cap
- 5,000 nits maximum during daylight
- Nighttime brightness cap
- 500 nits, sunset to sunrise
- Enforcement
- City planning and development director
Summary
Kansas City requires billboard lighting to be shielded so beams don't hit roadways or homes, bans flashing or electronic displays on standard billboards, and caps digital sign brightness at 5,000 nits by day and 500 nits after dark.
Lighting of billboards must be shielded to prevent beams or rays from being directed at any portion of a traveled roadway or an occupied residential area and may not be of such intensity or brilliance as to cause glare or impair vision or interfere with the residential use of property or the safe operation of motor vehicles.(b)No outdoor advertising sign may have any revolving, moving, flashing, blinking, or animated characteristics.(c)No outdoor advertising sign may have any electronic, digital, tri-vision or other changeable copy display.4.MINIMUM SPACING REQUIREMENTS(a)No outdoor advertising sign structure hereafter erected may be less than 4200 feet from any other existing outdoor advertising structure on either side of the highway or interstate.(b)Such minimum spacing distance must be measured along the centerline of the highway or interstate from a point opposite any edge of an outdoor advertising sign structure and perpendicular to the centerline of such highway or interstate.5.LEGAL NONCONFORMING OUTDOOR ADVERTISING SIGNS Legal nonconforming outdoor advertising signs may remain, subject to the following provisions in addition to the provisions of 88-445-15-C.:
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 139 | Zoning and Development Code: Supplement 38).
Full Breakdown
Kansas City's Zoning and Development Code requires that lighting on outdoor advertising signs be shielded to prevent beams or rays from hitting any traveled roadway or occupied residential area, and bars intensity or brilliance that causes glare, impairs vision, or interferes with residential use or safe driving. Standard outdoor advertising signs may not carry revolving, flashing, blinking, or animated lighting, nor electronic or digital changeable-copy displays. Legal nonconforming digital billboards allowed under separate conversion rules must use automatic ambient-light monitors and stay under 5,000 nits by day and 500 nits between sunset and sunrise. The city planning and development director enforces compliance and can order noncompliant signs into compliance or removed.
Violations & Fines
Violating the lighting or display restrictions is a Zoning and Development Code violation; the city planning and development director can order the sign brought into compliance or removed within 30 days of written notice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a billboard in Kansas City have flashing lights?
How bright can a digital billboard be at night?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kansas City
Compare Kansas City to another location·View the Missouri outdoor lighting overview
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Billboard Lighting in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Jackson County handle billboard lighting.