Santa Barbara County, CA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)
Key Facts
- Curfew
- 11 p.m. to sunrise for billboards/off-premise signs
- Effective date
- December 14, 2017
- Coverage area
- Eastern Goleta Valley Community Plan (Coastal Zone)
- New fixtures
- Must be fully shielded (full cutoff)
- Banned outright
- Mercury vapor lights
- Administering agency
- Planning and Development Department
Summary
Illuminated advertising signs, including off-premise billboards, within the Eastern Goleta Valley Community Plan area of the Coastal Zone must go dark between 11:00 p.m. and sunrise under County Code Sec. 35-192.3. Only on-premise business signs may stay lit, and only while the business is open. The curfew does not extend to the rest of the unincorporated county.
All exterior lighting installed on property located within the Eastern Goleta Valley Community Plan area on or after December 14, 2017 shall comply with the following: ... c.Prohibited lights and lighting. 1)All illuminated advertising signs on and off premises shall be off between 11:00 p.m. and sunrise, except that on-premises signs may be illuminated while the business is open to the public.2)All outside illumination for aesthetic and/or decorative purposes for any structure and/or surrounding landscape, public or private, and for outdoor recreational facilities that is not fully shielded shall be prohibited between 9:00 p.m. and sunrise. All illumination of exterior areas between 9:00 p.m. and sunrise shall be shielded....5)Mercury vapor lights are prohibited.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 44 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
3 governs exterior lighting installed on or after December 14, 2017 on property within the Eastern Goleta Valley Community Plan area, which sits inside the Coastal Zone near Goleta. and sunrise, with the sole exception that an on-premise sign may stay lit while the business it identifies is open to the public. and sunrise. Fixtures installed or replaced after the December 14, 2017 effective date must be fully shielded (full cutoff); fully shielded fixtures carry no turn-off time. 3. 9 for the separate Summerland Community Plan area. curfew.
Violations & Fines
Section 35-192.3(f) conditions permit approval on submitted plans showing that proposed fixtures, including sign illumination, comply with the shielding and curfew standards; Planning and Development can withhold sign-illumination sign-off until lumen output and cutoff details are shown. Fixtures lawfully installed before December 14, 2017 keep a grandfathered exemption from the shielding requirement but remain subject to every other requirement of the section, including the 11:00 p.m. shutoff for illuminated advertising. A light fixture shown on a building permit approved before December 14, 2017 is excluded from compliance only until it is replaced, at which point the new fixture must meet the full standard.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 11 p.m. billboard curfew apply countywide?
Can a business keep its own sign lit past 11 p.m.?
Are older, already-installed billboard lights exempt?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Santa Barbara County
California rules heatmap·Compare Santa Barbara County to another location·View the California outdoor lighting overview
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