El Dorado County, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Section 130.36.070(H)(3) sets three numeric limits on any electronic or digital sign the Chapter otherwise allows: the digital portion cannot exceed half of the sign's total permitted display area, the message cannot change more than once every eight seconds of dwell time, and the sign's output cannot exceed 0.3 foot-candles above the surrounding ambient light level, measured with an industry-standard method at a distance calculated from the sign's own size. These brightness and dwell-time limits sit alongside the Chapter's general sign-illumination standards in Section 130.36.070(A)(2), which bar blinking or intermittent lighting and any brightness that creates glare on nearby residential property.

Stand-alone digital billboards used for general advertising for hire are separately prohibited under Section 130.36.090(B)(2), so the 50-percent, eight-second, 0.3-foot-candle standard mainly governs on-site business signs that add an electronic message component, plus certain highway-oriented signs under Section 130.36.070(J)(6) that can incorporate electronic changeable copy consistent with these limits. A narrow exception exists under Section 130.36.030(A)(12): the Board of Supervisors may, at its sole discretion, approve relocating an existing off-site billboard onto County land or converting an existing non-digital billboard to digital on private property, and those Board-approved conversions are not limited to the standard 50 percent display area.