Chula Vista, CA Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

410, part of the Uses chapter of Title 19 (Planning and Zoning), sets a blanket, year-round prohibition on lighting that is designed to convey movement, and separately bans intermittent, variable-intensity, or flashing lights wherever they are visible from a public street or from adjoining properties. The single exception written into the section is for holiday lights, and it is expressly time-boxed to December, the code does not extend the exception to November displays, post-New Year takedowns in January, or lights kept up for other winter holidays outside that calendar month.

Because the exception is tied to a fixed month rather than to a holiday-specific date range, a homeowner who leaves flashing icicle lights running in January or puts up a blinking display in early November is outside the exception and subject to the same rule that governs any other flashing sign or light fixture in the City. The rule applies City-wide to any lighting visible from the street or a neighboring lot, so it reaches both residential yards and commercial storefronts, and it is enforced by the Development Services Department's code enforcement staff, who typically act on neighbor complaints rather than proactive patrol.

There is no separate holiday-lighting permit process, the section functions purely as a timing carve-out from the general flashing-light ban, so no fee or application is required to display non-flashing holiday lights or to use flashing lights specifically during December.