West Des Moines, IA Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

West Des Moines City Code section 9-18-15(D)(7) defines a billboard as an off-premises sign identifying a business, service or commodity located elsewhere, and subsection (k) governs its lighting: interior illumination is flatly prohibited, while external illumination is permitted only if designed to minimize spillage onto neighboring properties and roads. That lighting rule reaches a narrow set of structures because billboards are confined to the General Industrial (GI) and Agricultural/Open Space (OS) districts under subsection (c). Placement is further restricted: no billboard may sit within 100 feet of a dwelling unit, public park, school, church, hospital, cemetery or similar institution, and none may face a residential zoning district or use within 300 feet.

Any off-premises sign along an interstate or primary highway must carry documentation that the Iowa Department of Transportation has approved it before the City will review it. Billboards must also sit back at least 100 feet from a public right-of-way, or 120 feet from the back of curb of a private street, and stay 300 feet from any other billboard facing the same direction. A single billboard face is capped at 350 square feet and 35 feet tall; a double-faced billboard (two faces on one structure, allowed only on parcels of 10 acres or more) may reach 675 square feet at the same height. A building permit from Development Services is required before any new billboard structure goes up or an existing one is altered.