Alachua County, FL Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

31(d)(2) of the ULDC governs electronic message centers on permanent freestanding signs in nonresidential developments. Outside the Interstate 75 corridor, where they are prohibited outright, a freestanding sign may carry an internally illuminated electronic message center only if the display occupies no more than 20 percent of the sign's total square footage or ten square feet, whichever is less. The display must use a dark background with monochromatic lettering, and that lettering cannot flash or move. The message itself is capped at one change per five-minute period.

28(a)(4) bans 'changeable copy signs on which the message changes more than one (1) time in a five-minute period that are legible from a public way or private property other than the site on which the sign is located,' making the five-minute change limit an outright prohibition, not just a design guideline, for any changeable-copy sign visible from a road or neighboring lot. 28(a)(2) separately bans animated signs and (a)(5) bans flashing signs countywide, reinforcing the static-display requirement. 31(a)(1); a single-tenant site is generally allowed one freestanding sign up to 50 square feet and ten feet tall, so the message center itself is a small carve-out within that footprint. These rules apply only to unincorporated Alachua County; Gainesville and the county's other municipalities regulate digital signage separately.