Overland Park, KS Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)
Key Facts
- Lighting type
- Indirect or non-illuminated only
- Permit required
- Special Use Permit, Governing Body approval
- Eligible zoning
- M-1 or M-2 with interstate frontage
- Max size
- 672 square feet
- Max height
- 30 feet above right-of-way grade
- Permit term
- 5 years, 60-day removal if lapsed
Summary
Billboards in Overland Park need a Special Use Permit and can only carry indirect or non-illuminated lighting under the sign code. Digital displays are barred entirely from standard billboards, and every lit sign must also meet the city's general outdoor lighting standards.
6. Lighting. Billboards shall be indirectly illuminated or non-illuminated and comply with all applicable City building codes and applicable lighting standards of this Chapter.
Full Breakdown
Overland Park confines billboards to a Special Use Permit approved by the Governing Body on recommendation of the Planning Commission, and that permit only reaches property zoned M-1 (Industrial Park) or M-2 (General Industrial) with frontage on I-35, I-435 or I-635. " That means no internally-lit or digital billboard faces; any illumination has to come from external fixtures aimed at the sign face, and the fixtures themselves must satisfy the sign chapter's own lighting rules along with the building code. C and is limited to highway monument signs on CP-2 or CP-3 zoned property with at least 400,000 square feet of floor area, so a conventional off-premise billboard cannot simply add a digital face to get around the indirect-lighting requirement.
The same subsection package caps billboard size at 672 square feet, height at 30 feet above the adjacent right-of-way grade, and requires 1,200 feet of spacing from any other billboard along the same interstate or frontage road. Special Use Permits for billboards are time-limited to five years, with a 60-day removal window if the permit lapses without renewal, so the lighting condition is revisited every renewal cycle rather than grandfathered permanently.
Violations & Fines
Planning & Development staff enforce sign standards through the Special Use Permit conditions attached to each billboard. A billboard lit with anything other than indirect or non-illuminated fixtures, or one converted to a digital face without qualifying as a permitted highway monument sign, is out of compliance with its permit and subject to code enforcement action, permit revocation proceedings before the Governing Body, and removal at the operator's expense; the code separately gives the city a 60-day removal deadline once any billboard permit is not renewed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a billboard in Overland Park have an internally lit face?
Are digital billboards allowed in Overland Park?
Where can a lit billboard legally go in Overland Park?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Overland Park
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