Fremont, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

450 is Fremont's dedicated digital sign standard. It opens by restricting the use itself: digital signs are only allowed for assembly uses and must be approved through a master sign program under Article X, so a digital display cannot simply be added to an ordinary retail or office sign. Where allowed, seven standards apply. Size is capped at 50 percent of the basic permittable area (BPA) for the site. Dwell time requires each still image in a slide-show sequence to display for at least eight seconds, bars any appearance of moving images, and requires gradual fade transitions with no abrupt image or lighting changes.

Content is restricted to noncommercial messages and on-site commercial messages only; off-site commercial messages and general advertising for hire are prohibited. The display face must be kept at least 98 percent functional at all times under the "cell replacement" standard. Brightness is numerically capped: no more than 5,000 nits measured at the sign face during daylight, dropping to 500 nits from sunset to sunrise, and further reduced to a maximum of 250 nits from sunset to sunrise if the sign is visible from legal residential dwelling units.

The zoning administrator can also condition approval on shielding the display face on any side to cut glare, and animated copy, rolling or running text, and flashing displays are barred outright unless specifically authorized elsewhere. 193, adopted by Ord. 2-2014 on 1-14-14.