Greenwood, IN Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Greenwood's outdoor lighting article, Sec. 10-03-07, otherwise requires a photometric plan, full cutoff fixtures, and specific foot-candle limits for exterior lighting citywide. Subsection B lists exemptions from those requirements, and B.3 specifically carves out holiday lighting during the months of November, December, and January, provided the lighting does not create unsafe glare on street rights-of-way. That means a homeowner or business stringing seasonal lights in that three-month window does not need to submit a photometric plan or use full-cutoff fixtures the way permanent site lighting must, but the exemption is conditional, not blanket: if a display throws unsafe glare onto a public street, it falls outside the exemption and back under the general lighting standards Community Development Services enforces.

Other exemptions in the same subsection include FAA-mandated tower or airport lighting, flag lighting, battery-powered emergency lighting, architectural lighting of 450 lumens or less, public safety lighting, street lighting, and residential garage, porch, and landscape accent lighting, all of which sit alongside the holiday-lighting carve-out as the full list of exempt exterior lighting.