Elyria, OH Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Digital billboards are not named as such in the Elyria Codified Ordinances. Billboards are off-premises signs under Chapter 1173, and the electronic version is addressed in § 1173.10(B) as electronic variable message signs. Two kinds are permitted. The first gives public information such as, but not limited to, time, date, temperature, weather or other similar information. The second is a commercial electric variable-message sign which functions in the same manner as a multiple-faced sign. Both carry the same condition: the sign must not interfere with traffic safety and must not resemble or simulate traffic control or safety devices or signs.

Paragraph B sits next to the rest of the lighting section. Paragraph A of § 1173.10 prohibits signs which contain, include or are illuminated by a flashing, intermittent or moving light or lights, and paragraph C requires effective shielding so beams or rays are not directed toward any portion of the traveled ways. The multiple-faced comparison links to § 1173.06(B), under which signs can be back-to-back, double-faced, V-type and multiple-faced with not more than two faces to each facing, and the structure is considered one off-premises sign.

The site rules for any billboard still apply. Off-premises signs are limited to the B-D, B-G, B-AO, L-I, H-I and S-I districts (§ 1173.03), height is capped at fifty feet (§ 1173.07), and spacing is 2,640 feet from any other off-premises sign (§ 1173.08(A)). Table 1 in § 1173.06 sets the maximum face area by roadway speed, with 300 square feet for a 35 mph to 50 mph roadway and 672 square feet for a roadway over 50 mph.

On-premises electronic message displays are a different chapter with tighter numbers. Section 1174.03(U) requires a minimum display time of five seconds on non-residentially zoned property and thirty seconds on residentially zoned property, a setback of one hundred feet from a residentially zoned property, a thirty-five foot separation between electronic message signs, no white, ivory or yellow backgrounds, and it prohibits flashing, animation and video.