Little Rock, AR Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

The section opens permissively. Unless the sign chapter says otherwise, all signs may be illuminated, so a billboard operator in Little Rock starts from a yes on lighting and then works through four prohibitions. First, an exposed incandescent lamp with an external reflector may not be used without a sunscreen or comparable diffusion, which targets the glare of a bare reflector aimed at a face. Second, no exposed incandescent lamp may exceed three hundred (300) watts, a cap that applies to exposed lamps rather than to shielded fixtures generally.

Third, revolving beacon lights are out entirely. Fourth, no device is allowed that produces oscillating, rotating or flashing lights, which rules out movement in the light itself, not just brightness. Because the prohibitions apply to "any sign regulated by this chapter," they catch billboards as off-premises signs along with other regulated signage. Two related rules sit nearby: Sec. 36-556(a)(5) bars billboard animation outright, and conversions to digital format are confined to narrow, specifically mapped corridor segments under tight face-count caps. Sign permits are administered by the planning and development director's office, which can order removal of a noncompliant sign under Sec. 36-536.