Clay, NY Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Section 140-5 of the Town of Clay's Lighting chapter lists four categories of outdoor lighting exempt from the standards set in § 140-4: hazard warning and emergency lighting operated by a government entity, lighting required by Federal Aviation Administration rules, lighting required by a Town, county, state, or federal office, and, at § 140-5D, temporary holiday lighting. Because the exemption is unqualified, a residential holiday display is not held to the shielding rule in § 140-4D requiring an IESNA-accepted, fully enclosed, cutoff-style fixture, nor to the marginal-increase cap of one footcandle at the property line in § 140-4C, nor to the ban on blinking, intermittent, or flashing illumination in § 140-4B that otherwise applies to permanent installations.

The chapter does not define how long lighting stays "temporary" or set a specific take-down date, so the exemption turns on the display's seasonal, non-permanent character rather than a fixed calendar window. Outside the holiday exemption, Chapter 140, adopted September 18, 2006 by Local Law No. 8-2006, otherwise requires shielded, cutoff fixtures and caps light spilling onto a neighbor's property, and any light that isn't exempt and doesn't meet those standards is a nonconforming light under § 140-6.