Champaign, IL Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Under City Code Sec. 37-412(e), a "changing OASS" is a billboard face that switches automatically by digital or mechanical means. The code limits changes to no more than once every ten seconds, and every change must be an instantaneous full-face swap: wipes, fades, and flashing effects are all barred. Digital changing OASS faces must carry a minimum resolution of 20mm and must run a photosensor system that dims or brightens the display as ambient light changes, so a bright billboard cannot glare at night. Any two changing OASS structures must sit at least 1,000 feet apart.

Digital changing OASS capable of updating more than once an hour must be wired directly into the regional emergency dispatch system (METCAD), so the METCAD director or a designee can override the commercial message with an emergency bulletin such as a Statewide Yellow Alert for an abducted child or an imminent weather warning. Beyond the changing-image rules, OASS structures citywide are geographically capped: no new OASS has been allowed inside the OASS Overlay District (mapped in Table VIII-A) since January 1, 2007, though legally erected signs there may be repaired or relocated within the district by drawing down credits from a "sign bank," and building a changing OASS anywhere outside the Overlay draws down that bank at a 2:1 ratio.

New or relocated OASS also must rack up landscaping/design points (60 outside entryway nodes, 120 inside them) and cannot obstruct protected sightlines to Memorial Stadium, the Assembly Hall, the City Building, or the Beckman Institute within a half mile.