Nashville, TN Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)
Key Facts
- Internal illumination cap
- 200 foot-lamberts
- Indirect illumination cap
- 75 footcandles
- Residential curfew radius
- 500 feet
- Curfew hours
- 12:00 a.m.–6:00 a.m.
- Governing chapter
- Metro Code Title 17, Ch. 17.32
Summary
Metro Nashville caps billboard brightness at 200 foot-lamberts for internally lit signs or 75 footcandles for indirect lighting, and requires billboards within 500 feet of residential zoning to go dark from midnight to 6 a.m.
The brightness and surface illumination shall not exceed two hundred-foot lamberts for a billboard having internal illumination or seventy-five footcandles for a billboard having indirect illumination. Billboards located within five hundred feet of property classified in a residential district shall not be illuminated between the hours of twelve a.m. and six a.m.
(Ord. BL2019-111 § 1(Exh. A, § 49), 2020; Ord. BL2019-1635 § 1, 2019; Ord. BL2016-309 § 5(Exh.), 2016)
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 53 | Charter: Republication 9).
Full Breakdown
The Metro zoning code's billboard chapter sets hard brightness ceilings, 200 foot-lamberts for internally illuminated billboard faces, 75 footcandles for indirectly lit faces, and layers on a curfew: any billboard within 500 feet of a residentially zoned property must shut off between 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. The rule applies wherever billboards are permitted under Metro's zoning code (commercial, industrial and select other districts); it sits inside the same chapter that sets billboard size, spacing and setback standards. Codes & Building Safety and the Metro Planning Department administer zoning compliance for signs Metro-wide, including the six satellite cities' own separately-coded jurisdictions falling outside this Metro chapter.
Violations & Fines
Illegal illumination is a zoning violation handled through Metro's sign-permit and code enforcement process, not a standalone criminal fine: expect a correction order to reduce brightness or shut off the sign during curfew hours, with the permit at risk for repeat noncompliance.
Frequently Asked Questions
How bright can a Nashville billboard be?
Do billboards near houses have to turn off at night?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Nashville
Compare Nashville to another location·View the Tennessee outdoor lighting overview
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