Lake Havasu City, AZ Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

The underlying rule in Section 14.04.05.B.2 prohibits directly illuminated building accent lighting made of strings of individual lamps or bulbs along building corners, roof edges, window openings, and other external architectural elements, a category that covers most decorative holiday string lights wrapped around eaves or storefront windows. The code carves out two exceptions to that ban: holiday lighting during November and December, and integrated neon lighting that meets the separate design criteria in division C.3, which requires neon to sit at least 6 inches below the parapet or roof eave line, stay off the top of the parapet and away from roof hips and ridge lines, avoid reflective backgrounds that intensify the light, and, on elevations facing a residential zoning district, be separated from that district by a right-of-way at least 70 feet wide.

Because the holiday exception is tied to the calendar rather than to a fixed number of display days, a string-light display left illuminated in January or in any month besides November or December loses the exemption and reverts to the general ban, which the Zoning Administrator and Development Services enforce the same way as any other exterior lighting standard in the zoning code, including the separate 375-lumen shielding threshold that applies once holiday season ends.