Waukesha, WI Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Section 27.05 sets photometric limits specifically for Billboard Signs: the electronic display portion of a Billboard Sign may not exceed 500 nits in design luminance at night or 3,000 nits in design luminance during daylight hours, but in no case may illumination from the Billboard Sign exceed the standard set in Municipal Code Section 22.59(1)(c), the City's general outdoor lighting ordinance. Any illuminated billboard, electronic or otherwise, also needs a separate electrical permit under the same section.

Illumination level drives how close a billboard can sit to housing. Under the Location Restrictions provision, a billboard shall not be visible from any lot in a residential district or from any permitted residential unit, and an electronically-illuminated billboard must stay at least 500 feet from the nearest boundary of a residential lot, a full 100 feet farther than the 400-foot buffer that applies to a non-electric, static billboard. That gap exists because the code treats a lit, changing display as more intrusive to nearby homes than a static advertising panel. A permit for a billboard doesn't create a vested right: if later residential development brings a home within the buffer distance, the code requires the billboard to be removed to restore compliance.