Akron, OH Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Permit type
- Conditional use, Board-approved
- Motion rule
- No flashing, rotating, or moving display
- Retrofit ban
- Nonconforming billboards can't add digital
- Spacing
- 1,000 ft minimum between displays
- Downtown
- New outdoor advertising displays prohibited
- Governing section
- Akron Code § 153.385(A)(16)
Summary
Akron only allows digital billboard technology as part of an outdoor advertising display approved as a conditional use. Section 153.385(A)(16) permits electronic message centers, but the display cannot flash, rotate, or appear to move, and a nonconforming billboard can never be rebuilt to add one. Displays also need at least a thousand feet of separation and cannot go up in Downtown.
16.Outdoor advertising displays may include automatic changeable copy signs (i.e., electronic message centers) provided the display is not a flashing sign and does not rotate or have the appearance of moving. Illumination shall be designed so as not to cause glare which may result in traffic hazards or which may interfere with the customary use of nearby residences. In addition, no non-conforming outdoor advertising display may be reconstructed to include electronic message centers.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 64).
Full Breakdown
385(A) sets development requirements for any outdoor advertising display permitted as a conditional use, a status requiring approval through the city's conditional-use process rather than an over-the-counter permit. , electronic message centers) provided the display is not a flashing sign and does not rotate or have the appearance of moving. ' The same item bars retrofitting: 'no non-conforming outdoor advertising display may be reconstructed to include electronic message centers,' so a billboard already out of compliance with today's spacing or size rules cannot be upgraded to digital.
385(A): a minimum one-thousand-foot separation between displays, a three-hundred-square-foot face limit in retail districts (six hundred seventy-two square feet in commercial districts), a ban on roof-mounted bulletins, and a one-hundred-foot buffer from any residence district the sign faces. 385(C)(1), and none may go up within a thousand feet of the Ohio and Erie Canal Scenic Byway centerline. Violating any of these limits, including running a flashing or rotating electronic message center, exposes the sign owner to the same misdemeanor and administrative-fine framework Akron uses for the rest of Chapter 153.
Violations & Fines
Operating an outdoor advertising display, including a digital message center, outside these limits is enforced under § 153.199. The City can levy administrative fines up to $100 for a first offense, $500 for a second, and $1,000 for a third or subsequent offense, plus criminal misdemeanor charges of up to $500 and sixty days in jail for continued violations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are digital billboards legal in Akron?
Can an old billboard in Akron be converted to a digital display?
How far apart do billboards have to be in Akron?
Can a digital billboard go up in downtown Akron?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Akron
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