Apple Valley, MN Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Two prohibitions in § 154.05 of the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances, Prohibited Signs (last amended by Ord. 1091, passed 6-10-21), close the door on digital billboards. Division (G) says no advertising or billboard sign shall be placed or located within any street rights-of-way, and no advertising or billboard sign shall be on property other than the premises on which the business, commodity, service or entertainment is located. Section 154.02 defines an advertising sign as a sign or billboard which directs attention to a business, commodity, service or entertainment conducted, sold or offered elsewhere than on the premises, and defines billboard sign by reference to it. Division (J) says electronic graphic display signs are prohibited, and § 154.02 defines those as signs that electronically display images, graphics or pictures using LEDs, fiber optics, light bulbs or other illumination devices, or a plasma display or other monitor screen.

What the City of Apple Valley, Dakota County, Minnesota, does allow is narrower. Section 154.04(L) permits only reader board signs and electronic message signs as changeable signs. The sign must be permanently installed and not portable, and it shall not be located in any residential or multiple family residential district. An electronic message sign must show static images and messages with an instantaneous transition and no special effects, change no faster than at 60 seconds intervals, and not scroll or ticker across the display; time, date and temperature information is the exception and can change every three seconds. Each message must be complete in a single display, there shall be no illuminated border around or within the display area, and no changeable sign shall be affixed to the building. Digital or LED displays must freeze in one position on a malfunction and be capable of immediate shutoff.

Section 154.06(A)(5) caps luminance at 7,500 nits between sunrise and sunset and 500 nits between sunset and sunrise, and no more than 0.3 foot candles above ambient light levels 100 feet from the sign face, with an automatic dimmer control required. Under § 154.06(B), a maximum of two-thirds of the freestanding sign area allowed can be a changeable sign. Electronic message signs need a sign permit under § 154.04, except those used for public roadway operations by the state, county or city.