Walton County, FL Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Walton County's Land Development Code creates the Military Influence Overlay District (MIOD) to keep outdoor lighting compatible with flight operations at Eglin Air Force Base; the MIOD boundary and its Impulse Area, Critical Approach, and other subzones are mapped on the code's Exhibit 5-2. A applies the district's lighting rules to all public and private outdoor lighting installed in the MIOD after March 12, 2019, and Subsection B lists lighting exempted from those rules outright, including outdoor lighting powered by fossil-fuel combustion, law enforcement and emergency lighting, lighting required by FAA regulations, and, at item 8, holiday lighting for a period of two consecutive months commencing on November 15.

That eight-week window runs from November 15 through roughly January 10, covering Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's displays without triggering the MIOD's foot-candle caps, full-cutoff fixture rules, or the low-pressure sodium requirement for new development. A property owner who wants nonexempt temporary lighting outside that window, such as a spring festival display, can instead apply to the Walton County Planning and Development Services Division for a temporary electrical permit under Subsection B(9), good for up to 30 days with a required 30-day gap before another such permit issues; the application must list the lamp type, fixture model, photometric data, and start and end dates.

Lighting installed and maintained under an approved plan is deemed compliant under Subsection O, and legal nonconforming luminaires in place before the March 2019 effective date keep that status unless more than half their replacement value is altered.