Amarillo, TX Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Minimum frame hold
- 5 seconds per message or image
- Max transition time
- 2 seconds, simultaneous across full face
- Size cap
- 50% of allowed freestanding sign area
- Daytime brightness limit
- 5,000 nits at the property line
- Nighttime brightness limit
- 500 nits, dusk to dawn
- Residential buffer
- No lighted sign within 150 feet unless shielded
Summary
Amarillo's sign code lets an on-premises electronic message center display a static image or scroll text across the face, but bans dissolve, fade, and animation effects unless each message holds for at least five seconds and the transition completes in two seconds across the whole sign. An EMC cannot exceed half of the site's allowed freestanding sign area, and illumination is capped at 5,000 nits by day and 500 nits from dusk to dawn.
Illumination from any sign:...c.Shall not exceed five thousand (5,000) nits (candelas per square meter) during daylight hours or five hundred (500) nits between dusk and dawn, as measured from the closest property line. ... H.Use of an electronic message center (EMC) sign.(1)Operational limitations.a.The display of a static message and/or image and/or the use of scroll/travel to display a message and/or image shall be permitted.b.The use of any other type of transition, such as dissolve/fade, and the use of frame effects, such as animation whereby text or graphics appear to move or change in size, shall be prohibited except in accordance with the following:i.Each message or image must be displayed for a minimum of five (5) seconds; andii.The change of message or image must be accomplished within two (2) seconds or less and must occur simultaneously on the entire sign face.(2)Size limitations.a.An EMC may not exceed fifty (50) percent of the total freestanding sign area as allowed for a given zoning district.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 81).
Full Breakdown
Section 4-2-9(H) of the Amarillo sign code governs electronic message centers (EMCs), the term the city uses for digital or LED changeable-copy signs. An EMC may show a static frame or a scroll/travel message, but dissolve, fade, and frame-effect animation are prohibited unless the sign holds each frame for a minimum of five seconds and completes the change to the next frame in two seconds or less, simultaneously across the entire face. Section 4-2-9(H)(2) caps the EMC face at fifty percent of the freestanding sign area allowed for the property's zoning district, and Section 4-2-9(J) limits most non-residential, apartment or mobile-home park, and institutional properties to one EMC per property.
Illumination is capped under Section 4-2-9(A)(2)(c) at 5,000 nits during daylight and 500 nits between dusk and dawn, measured from the closest property line, and no lighted sign may stand within 150 feet of a residential development unless oriented away from it. m. Development signs and temporary signs may never use EMC technology (Sections 4-2-9(I)(4) and 4-2-11(D)(2)), and a legally nonconforming EMC may have its electronics upgraded only if the change is brought into compliance with the Section 4-2-9(H) limits (Section 4-2-10(B)). The Building Official inspects sign structural integrity and can order a dilapidated or abandoned sign repaired or removed.
Violations & Fines
Operating an EMC that skips the five-second hold, exceeds the two-second transition window, runs dissolve or animation effects, or exceeds 50 percent of the allowed freestanding sign area violates Chapter 4-2 and is enforced under Section 4-2-15, which ties sign offenses to the Section 1-1-5 general penalty of up to $500 per day, with each day of continued violation a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a business in Amarillo install a digital billboard-style sign on its own property?
How bright can an electronic message center be at night?
What happens if an EMC violates the transition or brightness rules?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Amarillo
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