Highland, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

HMC § 16.56.190 defines an off-site advertising display as an outdoor advertising structure or sign used for outdoor advertising purposes, commonly known as an off-site or off-premises billboard. In the City of Highland these displays are permitted only in the Industrial (I) Zone and are expressly prohibited in all other zones.

Digital technology is shut out of billboards. Under § 16.56.190(B)(11), no off-site display can move, rotate or display moving parts, and the ban expressly includes electronic message systems and signs that have alternating messages that change more than once an hour. Electronic message boards using flashing, intermittent or moving light are prohibited.

The physical standards are tight. Maximum height is 20 feet from the roadbed of the adjacent freeway or highway, or 20 feet from grade, whichever is less. Total surface area is capped at 100 square feet with no cutouts or extensions, and the display gets a maximum of two steel support poles and two display faces. Spacing is 2,500 feet in any direction from any other off-site display or sign on the same street, and 150 feet from property whose zoning does not allow advertising displays, with an exception where no residential structure or approved residential building permit exists within 150 feet when the application is filed. A State Outdoor Advertising Permit is required within 660 feet of a primary highway, and the owner's name and telephone number must appear on the front display face.

Permits run through the community development director, who issues the off-site advertising display permit, and the building and safety division, which issues the building permit. The city engineer approves placement. The director must deny within 10 business days from acceptance if the standards will not be met.

Electronic signs are handled separately in HMC § 16.56.160. The Planning Commission can approve an electronic changeable-copy sign only as part of a freeway-oriented community business sign in the CG, PC, PD and MU districts, and individual on-premises electronic displays outside that arrangement are prohibited. The table allows no more than 1 per site, message intervals no more frequent than once every 10 seconds, no blinking, moving characters or video streaming, a light sensor, and a minimum site of 2 acres with 200 feet of lineal frontage unless an alternative is approved.