Milpitas, CA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

The Illumination standard in Table C.8.050-D gives billboard owners three lighting choices: non-illuminated, internal illumination, or external illumination, with external illumination governed by the general sign lighting standard in § XIII-C.8.040.E, which requires steady, stationary, fully shielded light sources aimed only at the sign face and away from streets and adjacent properties. Whatever option is chosen, the lighting cannot impair the vision of travelers on the adjacent interstate or state route, a safety-driven cap tied directly to the highway-facing placement these signs require. For a static-display billboard, the lamps or light sources must be designed and installed so the angle of light toward the freeway cannot be altered after installation, preventing an operator from later brightening or re-aiming the sign toward passing traffic.

Digital billboards carry an added, more specific brightness limit: no more than 0.3 foot-candles above ambient light, measured 250 feet from the sign face. The billboard must also sit within a landscaped area extending at least three feet from its base, protected by a vertical curb, which further constrains how close ground-mounted lighting fixtures can sit to the structure.