Tucson, AZ Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

12, 'Illumination,' folds sign lighting into the city's broader lighting regime: unless a sign type is banned from having any light at all, it may be illuminated only if it meets the Outdoor Lighting Code found at Tucson Code Chapter 6, Article IV, Division 2. That code was adopted by reference in Sec. 6-101, which incorporates the document titled 'City of Tucson/Pima County Outdoor Lighting Code' (Exhibit A to Ordinance No. 10963) as Tucson's own standard, except for provisions written specifically for Pima County's use, meaning a billboard or any other lit sign inside city limits is judged against the city's adopted version, not the county's.

Copies are kept on file with the city clerk under Sec. 6-102, and the mayor and council may amend the adopted lighting standards from time to time under Sec. 6-103. Enforcement runs through Sec. 6-104: violating the Outdoor Lighting Code is a civil infraction, not a criminal charge, but it is priced per violation, and per day, so a billboard left non-compliant accrues exposure daily rather than as a single one-time fine. The technical division of the city's Administrative Hearing Office has exclusive jurisdiction over these civil infraction cases under Sec. 28-4(1), separate from the criminal courts that hear misdemeanor code violations elsewhere in the Tucson Code.