Lexington's City Council voted unanimously to adopt Zoning Ordinance 2025‑03, permitting internally illuminated canopy signs in the city's C‑1 (historic downtown) and C‑2 zoning districts under specified size and lighting limits.

Planning staff member Arnie told the council the ordinance adds a canopy‑sign definition and permits display allowances tied to building height: up to 7.5 square feet with 12‑inch channel letters for buildings up to three stories and up to 10 square feet with 16‑inch letters for taller buildings. The draft also sets a per‑letter maximum of 800 aluminum lumens and a 2,700 kelvin maximum color temperature, and limits canopy signs to buildings with at least 40 feet of frontage. "They decided not to recommend a limitation on the color of the channel letters," Arnie said, noting the Architectural Review Board would retain design discretion.

Council members probed lighting controls and timing; staff said typical downtown street lamps emit about 1,300 lumens and that ambient lighting contributed to the planning commission's recommendation against an automatic curfew for canopy lights. Arnie said staff had not received finalized submittal details from the original applicant and relied in part on examples used in other ordinances.

After closing the public hearing with no speakers, a council member moved to approve the ordinance "as presented." The motion carried by unanimous roll call. The mayor thanked planning commissioners and staff for their work, saying the process demonstrated "thoughtful, collaborative work." The approved ordinance will amend Articles 13 (signs) and 20 (definitions) of the City of Lexington zoning ordinance.

Votes at a glance
Zoning Ordinance 2025‑03 — Outcome: Approved (unanimous). Motion: "Approve zoning ordinance 2025‑03 to allow internally illuminated canopy signs, to be permitted in the C‑1 and C‑2 zoning districts as presented." (Mover: Council member recorded in transcript as Speaker 7; second recorded; roll call recorded as unanimous.)
Appointment — Dallas Clark to joint board of building code appeals — Outcome: Approved (unanimous). Consent Agenda — Approved (unanimous).

What happens next
The ordinance includes design limits and assigns review authority to existing boards (planning/ARB). Applicants seeking canopy signs will proceed through staff and ARB review under the new code language; staff and council indicated they expect application‑level detail (lumens, color) to be provided at permit or ARB review.