Bend, OR Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

090(B)(7) treats billboards as their own sign category with a hard citywide cap: no more than 43 billboard permits may be active at any one time within the City of Bend, and no new billboard can be erected unless an existing one is removed first, a one-for-one replacement system rather than open-ended growth. Every billboard needs a specific billboard sign permit from the Building Official, separate from the general sign permit process, and where applicable the applicant must also show a State-issued permit under the Oregon Motorists Information Act of 1971.

Location is restricted too: billboards moved after the chapter's effective date must sit in Sign District 1 or 2 on commercial or industrial zoned property, and none are permitted west of the Deschutes River at all. 5 feet in vertical height and 24 feet in horizontal length, or the maximum size on the State-issued permit if smaller, and the structure itself cannot exceed 24 feet in height from finished grade, though a variance can raise that ceiling to 35 feet. The provision that matters most for digital displays is subsection (h): internally illuminated and animated billboards are prohibited outright, meaning any billboard with a video screen, changing digital message, or backlit panel does not qualify, no matter how it is sized or where it sits.

External illumination is still allowed if it complies with the City's Lighting Ordinance, and any electrical wiring serving the billboard must run underground. Billboards must also be spaced at least 500 lineal feet apart, be freestanding rather than mounted on a building, and use steel structural supports.