New York, NY Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

NYC Zoning Resolution Section 32-64 (Surface Area and Illumination Provisions) governs sign lighting in every C1 through C8 commercial district. The section states that no illuminated sign can exceed the degree or method of illumination set by Department of Buildings rule under the City Administrative Procedure Act, and that those DOB standards must keep light from projecting or reflecting onto residences, loft dwellings or joint living-work quarters for artists closely enough to interfere with their reasonable use and enjoyment. A sign with indirect illumination, defined in Article I, is one whose light source is external and arranged so no direct rays hit a residence or street; Section 32-64 is explicit that this indirect-illumination category still cannot be rigged to throw direct light into a residence, loft or artist live-work unit.

Billboards fall under the Resolution's advertising sign definition: a sign that promotes a business, product or service located somewhere other than the zoning lot it sits on and is not accessory to any on-site use. Section 32-645 governs the C8 districts that see the most billboard activity: illuminated or flashing signs other than advertising signs are allowed outright, but advertising signs (billboards) can only use indirect illumination, and the combined surface area of every such sign on a zoning lot cannot exceed five times the lot's street frontage, capped at 500 square feet per sign. Section 32-644 sets a similar five-times-frontage, 500-square-foot cap for illuminated or flashing signs in C4, C5-4, C6 and C7 districts, though C6-5 and C6-7 lots carry no size restriction at all. A narrow exemption in Section 32-64 removes small, non-flashing, non-advertising window signs of 8 square feet or less, limited to three per lot, from the surface-area math entirely.