Lenexa, KS Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)
Key Facts
- Flashing or blinking lights
- Prohibited except brief time, date or stock displays
- Glare
- Prohibited if it impairs motorists, cyclists or pedestrians
- Unshielded lights
- Prohibited except time/temperature devices up to 250 lumens
- Holiday string lights
- 50 lumens maximum, Thanksgiving to January 6
- Off-site signs
- Prohibited
- Penalty cap
- $2,500 fine, one year in jail, or both
Summary
The Lenexa City Code does not use the word billboard, but its sign rules for the City of Lenexa, Kansas prohibit lights that flash, blink, rotate or change intensity or color, glare that impairs drivers, and unshielded lights. Off-site signs, the category a billboard falls into, are separately prohibited.
Signs Posing Traffic Or Pedestrian Hazards: Any sign which constitutes a traffic hazard or is a detriment to traffic safety by virtue of its size, location, movement, content, coloring or method of illumination. Specifically prohibited are signs or attention-attracting devices using: Lights or illuminations that flash, move, rotate, scintillate, blink, flicker or vary in intensity or color, except for time/temperature, date, stock market or similar brief informational displays. Signs that are of such intensity or brilliance as to cause glare or impair the vision of motorists, cyclists or pedestrians. Unshielded lights, except for time/temperature devices using a light source with a light output of no more than 250 lumens.
Full Breakdown
The lighting limits sit in Section 4-1-E-3, the list of prohibited signs and attention-attracting devices, under the heading for signs that pose traffic or pedestrian hazards. The section opens by prohibiting any sign not specifically permitted, so a lit sign has to fit a permitted category before its lighting is even judged.
Three lighting bans apply to signs in every zoning district. First, lights or illuminations that flash, move, rotate, scintillate, blink, flicker or vary in intensity or color are prohibited, except for time/temperature, date, stock market or similar brief informational displays. Second, signs of such intensity or brilliance as to cause glare or impair the vision of motorists, cyclists or pedestrians are prohibited. Third, unshielded lights are prohibited, except for time/temperature devices using a light source with a light output of no more than 250 lumens.
Section 4-1-E-7 adds that all illuminated signs must conform to the glare (intensity) requirements in the chapter. Bare neon tube lighting is allowed in an open channel design and counts toward allowable sign area. Permanent illuminated facade signs must meet the National Electrical Code as adopted by the City, and electrical supply, wiring, brackets and fasteners cannot be visible. Decorative strings of lights are limited to the holiday season, Thanksgiving to January 6, at no more than 50 lumens of light output.
Billboards run into a second wall. Section 4-1-E-3 prohibits any sign that directs attention to a business, commodity, service, product or activity not conducted, sold, offered or available on the premises. The freeway frontage monument sign for a business on Interstate 35 or other freeway frontage is capped at 250 square feet.
The Planning Commission can grant deviations from the sign article under Section 4-1-E-14, and one of its review criteria is that sign lighting should not disturb residents of nearby residential land uses or adversely affect traffic on adjacent streets.
Violations & Fines
Erecting or maintaining a sign in contravention of the sign regulations is a violation of Chapter 4-1 under Section 4-1-L-1, and each day is a separate offense. Section 4-1-E-8 makes it unlawful to erect, alter or relocate a sign without a permit unless Section 4-1-E-4 exempts it. Remedies under Section 4-1-L-2 include permit denial or revocation, stop work orders, injunction, abatement, and criminal penalties capped at $2,500, one year in jail, or both under Section 1-1-C-3.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Lenexa have a separate billboard ordinance?
Can a sign in Lenexa flash or scroll?
Is there a brightness number for signs in Lenexa?
Who reviews sign lighting when a business asks for an exception?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Lenexa
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