McLean County, IL Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Section 350-83C(7) of the McLean County Zoning Code governs advertising signs, billboards, in the C Commercial District, and its illumination rule at subsection (h) is specific: an advertising sign may be illuminated provided such illumination is concentrated on the surface of the sign and is so located as to avoid glare or reflection onto any portion of an adjacent street or highway, the path of oncoming vehicles, or any adjacent premises. The same subsection flatly bars flashing, intermittent, rotating, or oscillating billboard lights, a stricter standard than the general illuminated-signs-permitted language that covers ordinary business and identification signs elsewhere in § 350-83.

Illumination also triggers a longer residential buffer. Subsection (c) sets the baseline distance for any advertising sign at 200 feet from a residential zone or existing residence, but requires that distance to increase to 300 feet if the advertising sign is illuminated. A lit billboard must also meet the article's other siting rules: no more than five per linear mile of road, none within 1,000 feet of another billboard on the same street, a maximum 400-square-foot face per side, and a 35-foot height cap measured from the higher of the sign's base grade or the roadway grade. These standards apply to unincorporated McLean County only; Bloomington and Normal set their own billboard and outdoor-lighting rules for signs inside city limits.