Elk Grove, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Elk Grove's sign chapter closes the door on new digital billboards through two overlapping provisions. 100, Prohibited Signs, subsection (E), bars "Electronic readerboard signs other than time/temperature signs," and only lets the City Council consider one "on a case-by-case basis as part of a specific plan or special planning area application or amendment thereto," limited to on-site commercial messages and spaced at least 3,500 feet apart from any other such sign. Separately, the chapter's billboard policy states the City "completely prohibits the construction, erection or use of any billboard, other than those which legally exist in the City, or which has been approved by the City Council, or for which a valid permit has been issued and has not expired," and adds that the Council "would have adopted this billboard policy even if it were the only provision in this division," underscoring how firmly the ban is meant to hold up even if challenged in court.

070(A). Development, maintenance, and removal standards for a relocated billboard come from the negotiated agreement itself, which governs over any conflicting chapter provision. In practice this means a landowner cannot simply apply for a digital billboard permit; the only avenue runs through a negotiated relocation of an existing legal sign and discretionary Council approval, not a ministerial permit process.