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Staff proposes moving lighting rules into zoning and creating categories for accent, outline, strip and string lighting
Summary
City staff told council it plans to move most exterior lighting regulation from the sign ordinance into zoning/site-plan review, and proposed distinct categories (accent, outline, strip, patio string, general illumination, decorative street lighting) with district-specific rules; council raised concerns about grandfathering, holiday and blinking lights and small-business burdens for required renderings.
Murfreesboro — Staff told the City Council on July 9 it intends to consolidate exterior-lighting regulation into the zoning and site-plan review process to reduce late-stage conflicts and set clearer expectations for developers.
Assistant city attorney John Tolley walked council through staff's proposed categories: accent lighting that must be aimed at building façades rather than the public; outline lighting allowed with limits on color intensity and prohibitions on blinking or digital-display behavior; strip lighting (defined as white-only along roof lines) with rules on permanence and neat installation; patio string lighting for outdoor dining areas as low-intensity ambience; and general illumination for safety and decorative street lighting in public rights of way that would require city permits.
Tolley said the proposal's intent is to bring lighting earlier into the site-plan review, allowing planning staff and planning commission to see colored nighttime renderings and reduce late changes during construction. Council members asked whether holiday lights or Fourth of July displays would be allowed (staff said the draft currently covers winter holidays but could be expanded), whether blinking or colored lights would be permitted (staff said standards are currently silent on blinking for temporary displays but could be clarified), how grandfathering for currently installed lighting would be handled (staff said legally established, permitted lighting would be grandfathered while nonconforming uses would not automatically be blessed), and whether the rendering requirement could impose a burden on small businesses.
Staff recommended district-specific treatment (for example, limiting colors in gateway overlays while allowing more ambient decorative lighting in the Central Business District) and said they will return with ordinance language and, if desired, additional workshops showing sample ordinance text and graphics.
The workshop recorded feedback but no final ordinance vote occurred at the session.
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