Ada County, ID Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Ada County Code 8-3-8 regulates outdoor lighting county-wide for any development requiring master site plan approval, any stationary lighting in the common areas of a planned unit development or subdivision, and any new, changed, or expanded fixture. Subsection (C)(3) carves out a specific exemption for temporary holiday lighting used forty days or less per year, so a homeowner or business stringing up seasonal lights for a single holiday season is not required to meet the section's technical lighting standards at all during that window. Once holiday lighting runs past the 40-day mark, the exemption stops applying and the display is treated as an ordinary outdoor light fixture subject to Subsection (F): a fixture putting out 260 lumens or more needs an opaque top to block up-lighting, one putting out 1,000 lumens or more needs both the opaque top and a bulb that is not visible, and anything at 1,800 lumens or more needs a full cutoff shield.

Subsection (D)(4) adds a separate, non-exemptible limit for taller displays: lighting, including holiday lighting, mounted on a commercial or private tower structure that exceeds the applicable zoning district's height limit is outright prohibited, with the sole exception of lighting the Federal Aviation Administration requires for aviation-hazard marking. Other lighting exemptions in the same subsection cover fixtures under 260 lumens, gas-combustion lighting such as kerosene lanterns, vehicle and emergency lights, federally or state-mandated hazard lights, and Ada County Highway District or Idaho Transportation Department streetlights. The lighting chapter, including these exemptions, took effect October 28, 2025 under Ordinance 1002.