Eugene, OR Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Eugene allows digital billboards only within the highway commercial sign standards area defined at EC 9.6675(1), covering frontage along streets such as Highway 99 North, Beltline Road, Franklin Boulevard and the south side of I-5, plus a matching provision for employment and industrial zones at EC 9.6680. Under EC 9.6675(7), digital billboards must be spaced at least 1,200 feet from another digital billboard oriented within 60 degrees of the same direction, with the distance measured along the centerline of the designated street. Message content can change no more than once every 8 seconds, the transition must be instantaneous rather than a fade or wipe, and animation is prohibited outright. Cutouts, the supplemental sign elements otherwise allowed on standard billboards under EC 9.6675(6)(d), are not permitted on digital faces.

The code also builds in a safety backstop: if a digital billboard malfunctions, EC 9.6675(7)(g) requires the display to either freeze on one static image, go to a full black screen, or shut off entirely, rather than showing a corrupted or flashing image. A legal nonconforming billboard can be removed and replaced with a digital billboard without changing its location, area or height, but only if the building permit is issued within 365 days of the first day of demolition and the replacement does not exceed 300 square feet, per EC 9.6675(7)(i). Every digital billboard permit still runs through the general sign permit process at EC 9.6625, which the building and permit services manager grants or denies within 21 calendar days of a complete application under EC 9.6630(3).