Frederick County, VA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

04 lists electronic message signs as a permitted sign type in the RA District, the RP/R4/R5 residential districts and the business and industrial districts alike, so the county does not zone electronic displays out of any district the way some sign types are restricted. E, the sign-illumination section: subsection (3) requires that, for electronic signs, the display be static for a minimum of 15 seconds and prohibits animating the display by scrolling, flashing or other nonstatic movement, and subsection (4) requires every sign to carry a light-sensing device that automatically adjusts display brightness as natural ambient light changes, so the sign complies with the article's brightness limits day and night.

The same illumination section separately bans any light source that is visible from a street right-of-way, causes glare hazardous or distracting to drivers or pedestrians, or flashes, revolves, scrolls or otherwise appears intermittent, rules that apply to an electronic sign along with every other illuminated sign. B(2), a monument sign may include an electronic component, but if a property is allowed more than one sign, only one of those signs may include an electronic display, preventing a site from stacking multiple digital faces. Off-premises electronic displays face the county's separate off-premises sign limits, which restrict off-premises advertising to monument and multi-tenant complex signs approved by Conditional Use Permit.