Millcreek, PA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Section 145-89C(2) sets the lighting rule for conventional Billboards. Illumination must be effectively shielded so as to prevent beams or rays of light from being directed at any portion of the traveled Rights-of-Way, or of such intensity or brilliance as to cause Glare or impair a driver's vision or interfere with any driver's operation of a Vehicle. Illumination that interferes with the effectiveness of, or obscures, an official traffic signal or device is not permitted. Advertising Signs cannot contain, include or be illuminated by any flashing, intermittent or moving lights, with one exception: lights giving public service information such as time, date and temperature or weather.

Section 145-89C(1)(b) adds a dimming requirement for Billboards and High-Rise Signs with message centers: no Billboard or High-Rise Sign can be erected without a light detector or photocell, a scheduled dimming timer, or a manual control to dim the Sign's brightness when ambient light conditions darken.

The general Sign lighting rules in § 145-78E apply as well. Light sources cannot be visible from any Street Right-of-Way or cause hazardous or distracting Glare, and no more than 0.2 footcandle of light can be detectable at the boundary of any abutting property. Signs on nonresidential properties can be illuminated from 5:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m., or one-half hour past the close of business, whichever is later, and must have an automatic timer. Under § 145-78E(4), the electrical supply to exterior Signs and their lighting fixtures must run through concealed cables, and underground cables for Freestanding Signs.

Section 145-81 also prohibits red, green or revolving beacon lights within 75 feet of a public Right-of-Way or 200 feet of a traffic control device signal, whichever is greater, and Reflective Signs or Signs containing mirrors.