Eden Prairie, MN Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Eden Prairie treats digital billboards and other changeable electronic signs as 'dynamic displays' under City Code Section 11.70, Subdivision 6, adopted after the Council found in Subdivision 6.A that changing messages distract highway drivers. Subdivision 6.B confines dynamic displays to free-standing signs only, and only within the Commercial Regional, Commercial Regional Service, Community Commercial, Neighborhood Commercial, Office, Town Center, Public, Parks and Open Space and Industrial districts, plus TOD-MU and TOD-E parcels with a qualifying commercial or industrial use; they are not permitted in any residential district.

Subdivision 6.C limits how often the image can change: no more often than once every 20 minutes, except that time, date or temperature information may update as often as every three seconds after holding for at least 20 minutes. Subdivision 6.D requires any change to be instantaneous with no fade, dissolve or other transition effect, and Subdivision 6.E bans video, animation or any illusion of motion outright. Subdivision 6.F prohibits flashing, strobing or intensity changes that mimic movement, and Subdivision 6.G bars audio speakers entirely.

Brightness is capped under Subdivision 6.I at 5,000 nits during daylight and 500 nits from dusk to dawn, measured at the sign face at maximum output, and every display must carry a dimmer control plus a manufacturer's written certification that the brightness ceiling is password-protected against end-user changes. Subdivision 6.H requires the display to freeze on a malfunction and to be shut off immediately if the City finds it noncompliant. Under Subdivision 6.J, the dynamic portion may occupy no more than 35 percent of a sign's copy and graphic area, and only one contiguous dynamic area is allowed per sign face.