Petaluma, CA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

The Implementing Zoning Ordinance regulates sign illumination and outdoor advertising structures together in Chapter 20. 030(C) sets the brightness ceiling: an illuminated sign within 500 feet of an R District, measured along a 180-degree arc from the sign face, cannot be directly lighted, only indirectly lighted, and even then the surface brightness cannot exceed thirty foot-lamberts. 030(D), with no light filament or tubing visible from the front of the sign or beyond the property line. 080. They require a conditional use permit and are permitted only in the C2, BP and I Districts; a 1,500-foot separation between structures must be maintained along the nearest street right-of-way; a 200-foot buffer applies around R Districts, parks, schools, libraries, churches, civic buildings and hospitals; and no structure may exceed 300 square feet in area.

210, so a billboard sited near a freeway or built as a projecting sign must additionally satisfy those chapters. Because outdoor advertising structures are themselves illuminated signs for purposes of Chapter 20, a billboard within 500 feet of a residential district is bound by the same 30 foot-lambert brightness cap and indirect-lighting-only rule that governs any other sign in that zone. 020(A), triggering City Attorney action to abate, remove and enjoin the violation on order of the City Council.