Bloomfield, NJ Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Bloomfield Township regulates signs in § 315-42 of the Land Development and Zoning chapter, and the Township Council built the rules as a closed list: one stated effect of § 315-42A(2) is to prohibit all signs not expressly permitted by the chapter. Digital billboards are not on the permitted list, and the sign section contains no separate digital billboard standard because the underlying sign type is banned.

Subsection A(7)(f) prohibits billboards, billboard signs and outdoor advertising signs. The definition in A(5) describes a billboard as a sign which directs attention to a business, industry, profession, commodity, service or entertainment not necessarily sold or offered upon the premises where the sign is located. The single carve-out covers display signs ordinarily or customarily erected on the premises of a railroad station or on a railroad right-of-way in the vicinity of such station, with the parking deck owned by the Township named as an example.

A digital face also fails two further tests. Subsection A(7)(h) prohibits animated, moving or revolving signs and signs using blinking, flashing, vibrating, flickering, tracer or sequential lights, with exceptions only for clocks, temperature displays and barber poles used with barbershops. Subsection A(7)(i) prohibits changeable message signs, and the A(5) definition of changeable message includes electronic or digital message boards or tickers. The bulletin board exemption in A(6)(d) states that it does not apply to electronic or digital message boards or tickers.

Signs that are allowed still face lighting limits. Subsections A(9)(a)[3] and A(9)(b)[2] prohibit flashing or intermittent lighting, A(9)(a)[2] allows only LED lighting in internally illuminated signs, and A(9)(f) caps light intensity at 75 footcandles. Under A(4)(a)[1], every sign needs a zoning permit from the administrative officer, who is the Township's Zoning Officer, and the permit is issued only for signs specifically allowed for the premises and zone district.