Dubuque, IA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Dubuque City Code § 16-15-5 defines an electronic message sign as a sign that uses changing lights to form a message or messages, where the sequence of messages and the rate of change is electronically programmed and can be modified electronically, covering digital billboards and electronic reader boards alike. The operative standards sit at § 16-15-23-8. Electronic message signs cannot present multiple screens within a single sign face, whether simulated or actual. During the static dwell time for a message, no animation, movement (including moving messages, scrolling text, or full motion or streaming video), segmented messages, or variation in light or color is allowed; off premises signs, meaning billboards advertising businesses elsewhere, must hold a message statically for at least eight seconds, while on premises signs need only two seconds.

Between messages, animation such as moving text or color changes is permitted only during the transition itself, capped at one second for off premises signs and two seconds for on premises signs. Each allowed freestanding sign is limited to one electronic message sign. Off premises signs are additionally governed by the separate off premises sign standards in § 16-15-12. The rule dates to Ordinance 52-09 (October 19, 2009), and sign violations are misdemeanors enforced by the building official under § 16-15-3.