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Port St. Lucie, FL Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Some Restrictions
Compiled from the official code textEditor Martyn O'NeillLast verified September 2026

Key Facts

Governing section
Code § 155.08(S)(6)
Rule
Lighting must be shielded
Protected uses
Residential, institutional, commercial land
Also protected
Public and private road rights-of-way
Numeric luminance caps
None for billboards, unlike § 155.08(I)
Review point
Special exception under §§158.136, 158.137
Enforcer
Code Compliance Division, § 155.11

Summary

Port St. Lucie requires every billboard's lighting to be shielded so it cannot beam toward residential, institutional, or commercial land, or onto any public or private road right-of-way. The standard sits in Code of Ordinances Section 155.08(S)(6), inside the same billboard subsection that caps size, height, and siting along the Florida Turnpike and I-95 corridor.

(6)Lighting shall be shielded and shall not be directed at any area with residential, institutional, or commercial land use or zoning nor at any public or private road right-of-way.

View official code

Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 103).

Full Breakdown

08(S)(6) states the rule in a single sentence: lighting shall be shielded and shall not be directed at any area with residential, institutional, or commercial land use or zoning nor at any public or private road right-of-way. 08(S), whether the illumination comes from external floodlights aimed at a static print face or from an internally lit display; the shielding duty is about where the light lands, not how it is generated. Because subsection (S) also confines billboards to sites within 200 feet of the Florida Turnpike or I-95 right-of-way and at least 200 feet from residential land, the lighting rule works alongside the siting standard to keep highway advertising light from spilling into the adjacent uses the siting rule was already designed to buffer, including the very roadway the sign faces.

08(I)(4) requires ambient light sensors, automatic dimming, and numeric nighttime and daytime luminance ceilings for message boards on institutional freestanding signs, but the billboard subsection does not import those numeric caps for billboards. 137 of the zoning code, since a design that cannot demonstrate compliant shielding does not meet the regulations the special exception is conditioned on. The body reviewing the special exception can deny or condition approval on lighting fixtures, angle, and glare-control measures that satisfy the no-spillover standard before the billboard is ever built.

Violations & Fines

A billboard whose lighting spills onto a residential, institutional, or commercial parcel, or onto the road right-of-way it fronts, is out of compliance with Section 155.08(S)(6) and can be cited by the Code Compliance Division under the enforcement procedures in Sections 37.05 through 37.09 of the City Code. Because billboards operate under a special exception with an annual inspection under subsection (2), a lighting violation found at inspection can hold up the annual renewal in addition to any citation and conviction penalty under Section 37.07.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a billboard's lights shine onto the highway it faces?
No. Section 155.08(S)(6) bars billboard lighting from being directed at any public or private road right-of-way, which includes the Florida Turnpike or I-95 frontage the billboard is required to sit near under the siting rule in the same subsection.
Does the billboard lighting rule set a maximum brightness in nits?
No. Section 155.08(S)(6) only requires shielding so light is not directed at residential, institutional, or commercial land or a road right-of-way; the numeric nighttime and daytime luminance caps in Section 155.08(I)(4) apply to electronic message boards on institutional signs, not to billboards.
What land uses does the billboard lighting rule protect?
Section 155.08(S)(6) names three: residential, institutional, and commercial land use or zoning, plus any public or private road right-of-way, so a billboard cannot light up a neighboring house, school, church, office, or the roadway it faces.

Sources & Official References

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