Cocoa, FL Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Digital billboards fall inside the broader off-site advertising and billboard scheme, which otherwise caps the citywide inventory at the number of structures existing when the section took effect on October 27, 2009, and generally bars new billboards outside property adjacent to Interstate 95 or State Road 528. Where a digital billboard is permitted, subsection (j) sets the display size at up to 14 feet by 48 feet on limited access highways and up to 10 feet 6 inches by 36 feet elsewhere. Messages must display statically only, with no moving images, flashing, scintillating or varying illumination, and any structural or pictorial element of the sign must stay static as well.

Each message needs a minimum 8-second dwell time with a maximum 1-second transition between messages. 3 foot-candles above ambient light, measured with a foot-candle meter at 250 feet for the larger sign size or 200 feet for the smaller one, and documentation certifying that limit must go to the city at permitting. Every digital billboard also needs a light-sensing device that automatically adjusts brightness as ambient light changes, must stay 250 feet from residentially zoned property and 250 feet from any signalized intersection, and permittees must agree to display public service and emergency alerts such as Amber and Silver Alerts at no charge.