Orange, CA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

3 foot-candles above the ambient light level at any time, tested with a foot-candle meter positioned 250 feet from the sign. 5 of the California Vehicle Code, so an electronic billboard has to clear both the City's own brightness ceiling and the state dimming and glare standards that apply to freeway-adjacent displays. 180(D)-(L): conversions are limited to the freeway corridor along I-5, SR-22, SR-55, and SR-57, require a Minor Site Plan Review and a City relocation agreement, and must orient each sign face toward the freeway and away from residential property.

The Community Development Director evaluates ambient-light compliance as part of that discretionary site plan review, and the relocation agreement approved by the City Council can impose additional conditions to prevent adverse aesthetic impact on surrounding neighborhoods, referencing the same illumination thresholds set out in this section. Because the limit is measured relative to ambient light rather than as an absolute brightness figure, compliance is checked in the field at the sign's actual operating location and time of day rather than against a single fixed candlepower number.