Everett, MA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Changing-light signs
- Prohibited: changing light intensity, brightness or color
- Blinking or flashing lights
- Prohibited under Sections 12A-64(c) and 12A-63(a)
- Intermittent light exception
- Warning and time and temperature signs, Section 12A-54(l)
- Billboard size cap
- Fifty feet length or twelve feet height
- State permit
- Outdoor Advertising Board permit required for billboards
- Governing section
- Everett Revised Ordinances Section 12A-64(b) and (c)
Summary
In the City of Everett, Massachusetts, Section 12A-64 prohibits signs with blinking, flashing or fluttering lights and signs with illuminated devices that change in light intensity, brightness or color. Chapter 12A never uses the words digital or electronic billboard, so that changing-light ban applies alongside the Section 12A-65 billboard standards and a state Outdoor Advertising Board permit.
Section 12A-64. Prohbited Signs. ... (b) Signs which contain or consist of pennants, ribbons, streamers, spinners, other moving devices or other devices are prohibited. (c) Signs which have blinking, flashing or fluttering lights or other illuminated devices which have a changing light intensity, brightness, or color, are prohibited. (d) Signs which are pasted or attached to utility poles, trees, fences, other signs, or structures which are on or over public or private ways are prohibited.
Full Breakdown
The Everett Revised Ordinances contain no digital-billboard section. Chapter 12A, Signs and Billboards, does not use the words digital or electronic billboard, so the limit on a changing display comes from Section 12A-64, Prohibited Signs. Subsection (c) prohibits signs which have blinking, flashing or fluttering lights or other illuminated devices which have a changing light intensity, brightness, or color. Subsection (b) adds a ban on signs that contain or consist of pennants, ribbons, streamers, spinners, other moving devices or other devices. Section 12A-63(a) independently says flashing lights shall not be used.
The one printed exception for intermittent light sits in the on-premise sign section. Section 12A-54(l) says signs shall be lighted only by any continuous light, except that a warning sign or a sign illuminated to show time and temperature can have intermittent illumination, and signs shall remain stationary. Section 12A-54(d)(5) allows an additional ten square feet on each face of a projecting sign that incorporates a public service message device such as a time and temperature sign.
Billboards and off-premise signs are governed by Section 12A-65. No billboard or off-premise sign can be erected, displayed or maintained until a permit has been issued by the Outdoor Advertising Board of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (subsection (i)), and none can be in any residence district or in any block in which one-half or more of the buildings on both sides of the street are used partially or wholly for residential purposes (subsection (h)). Under subsection (g), a billboard cannot exceed a length of fifty (50) feet or a height of twelve (12) feet, except that the Building Inspector can permit devices up to forty (40) feet in length and fifteen (15) feet in height if not nearer than three hundred (300) feet to the boundary line of any public way. This page covers the City of Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, not Everett, Washington.
Violations & Fines
A violation of Section 12A-65 is punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50.00), and whoever unlawfully maintains the billboard or off-premise sign for twenty (20) days after conviction faces a fine of not more than twenty dollars ($20.00) per day (Section 12A-66). Other sign violations, including Section 12A-64, fall under Section 12A-45: not more than $20.00 a day if the violation continues more than 90 days after notice. The Building Inspector enforces Chapter 12A.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Everett, Massachusetts allow digital billboards?
Is a time and temperature display allowed in the City of Everett?
How large can an Everett billboard be?
What is the fine for violating the billboard rules?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Everett
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