Charlottesville, VA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Development Code Sec. A lists prohibited lighting sources under the Outdoor Lighting division, and item 4 of that list targets digital signage directly: any on-premise or off-premise digital sign that operates at a luminance greater than 100 nits between sunset and sunrise is not allowed anywhere in the city. This sits alongside the division's other bans on cobra-head fixtures with non-LED sources, temporary searchlights or high-intensity narrow-beam fixtures that shine into the sky, and lasers or similar optical-amplification devices. The 100-nit cap applies regardless of the sign's zoning district or whether it advertises an on-site business (on-premise) or is a freestanding billboard advertising something elsewhere (off-premise), which closes off the usual loophole where billboard operators argue different rules apply.

Any digital or electronic sign must still separately satisfy the general Sign standards in Div. 11, including the Sign Permit requirement in Sec. 3 and the Illumination standards in Sec. 11, which cross-references back to Div. 12 for exterior illumination. Because the nighttime cap is nested in the Outdoor Lighting division rather than the Signs division, it is enforced as a lighting violation, giving the Administrator authority to order a sign operator to dim or shut off a noncompliant display rather than only regulating the sign's physical size or placement.