Sign Regulations in Roanoke, VA (2026)
4 verified sign regulations for Roanoke, Virginia, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Holiday Displays
Roanoke caps holiday decorations on city-owned poles, light standards or trees at two weeks, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's displays, which may stand from November 1 through January 15 but light up only from Thanksgiving Eve through January 5. A city manager permit is required before installation.
Roanoke Holiday Decoration Display Time Limits
Some RestrictionsRoanoke City Code Sec. 30-111(a)-(b)
(a)Each application for a permit under this article shall be completed and submitted on a form supplied by the city at least thirty (30) calendar days prior to the time proposed for erection of a flag, pole-mounted banner, banner, or holiday decoration.(b)A holiday decoration may be erected and maintained for a maximum time period of two (2) weeks, except for the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Ne...
Digital Billboards
Roanoke caps electronic readerboard signs at 40 percent of the total sign area they're attached to, limits them to 25 square feet in CN, D, IN, UC, and CG districts, requires each display to hold static for at least six seconds, and caps night-time brightness at 0.3 footcandles over ambient light under Section 36.2-669.
Roanoke Electronic Readerboard and Digital Sign Rules
Some RestrictionsRoanoke Zoning Ordinance § 36.2-669(b)
(b)Electronic readerboard signs shall be subject to these requirements:(1)The electronic readerboard shall abut or connect with a static sign face.(2)The electronic readerboard portion of the sign shall constitute no more than forty (40) percent of the total sign area of which it is an integral part.(3)An electronic readerboard in a CN, D, IN, UC, or CG District shall not exceed twenty-five (25...
Window Signs
Roanoke limits window signage to fifty percent of the glass area it covers under City Code Section 36.2-671(b). Any sign applied to, suspended from, or displayed through a storefront window, door, sidelight, or transom counts toward that cap, and anything over fifty percent is prohibited outright. Window signs stay separate from the building-mounted sign allowance, so retailers effectively get both allotments.
Roanoke Window Sign Coverage Limit
Some RestrictionsRoanoke City Code § 36.2-671(b)
(b)Window signs shall be permitted at up to fifty (50) percent of the window area to which they are applied or attached, from which they are suspended, or through which they are displayed and shall not be counted towards building-mounted sign area. Window signs exceeding fifty (50) percent of the window area to which they are applied or attached, from which they are suspended, or through which ...
Freeway-Facing Signs
Roanoke bans new outdoor advertising signs, billboards, within two hundred fifty feet of the right-of-way of I-581 and the Roy L. Webber Expressway under City Code Section 36.2-675(d)(1)(D). The same spacing rule keeps billboards three hundred feet from residential district boundaries, two hundred fifty feet from schools, libraries, and parks, and three hundred fifty feet apart from each other.
Roanoke Billboard Spacing Near I-581
Significant RestrictionsRoanoke City Code § 36.2-675(d)(1)(A)-(D)
(d)Spacing standards.(1)No outdoor advertising sign shall be erected as follows:(A)Within three hundred (300) feet of the boundary line of any residential district within the City;(B)Within two hundred fifty (250) feet of the property line of any public school, public library, place of worship, museum, or public park;(C)Within three hundred fifty (350) feet of any outdoor advertising sign on th...