Boston, MA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Section 11-7 opens flatly: 'Electronic signs shall be conditional uses in the Theater District, Lansdowne Street Entertainment District and the Seaport Convention Center District, as shown on Appendix A. ' Inside those three overlay districts, the Board of Appeal may grant a conditional use permit only if the sign clears design review by the Authority, projects no more than five feet from the building face or the sidewalk width (whichever is less), operates only between 7:00 AM and 2:00 AM, keeps nighttime luminance at or under 500 candelas per square meter, and does not face a residential zoning district within one hundred fifty feet.

The permit runs eight years, renewable once for another eight years if the sign operated in compliance. Owners must hold an annual license from the Authority, pay a fee based on size, location and content, and pay a share of any commercial ad revenue from off-premise content; commercial electronic signs (other than marquees) must devote ten percent of operating time to public-service messages such as weather or time and temperature, and third-party sponsorship content is capped at thirty percent of the sign's area or five minutes within any thirty-minute cycle.

Traditional non-electronic billboards, by contrast, are addressed separately in Section 11-6 and are allowed only in L, B, LM, M, I, MER and W districts, never in the Harborpark District, and never within 660 feet of a federally funded highway without Board of Appeal approval.