Bonneville County, ID Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

County Code § 152.30 governs billboards countywide, including LED and tri-vision faces used for off-premises advertising in the unincorporated area. Subsection (A) bars a new billboard within 750 feet of any other billboard, within 750 feet of the Snake River or the Riverwalk, within 750 feet of a property or district on the National Register of Historic Places, or within 500 feet of any residential zone. Subsection (B) forbids stacking or placing billboards side by side, and subsection (C) restricts billboards to off-premises advertising only, so a billboard cannot promote the business on whose own lot it stands.

Subsection (D) sets the operating standards for electronic faces. A message or image cannot move continuously, appear animated, or include video or flashing illumination, and it must hold as a static image for a minimum of eight seconds. When the display changes, the transition must finish within two seconds or less, and the sign must default to a frozen image if it malfunctions. These standards echo the electronic message center rules at § 152.26, which apply a similar photocell-dimmer mandate to on-premises electronic signs in commercial and industrial zones, though onsite signs get a six-second (not eight-second) minimum hold.

A billboard permit application goes through the Planning and Zoning Department before installation, and the sign contractor must call for a footing inspection before pouring concrete under § 152.28. On the largest billboard-zoned parcels (HC-1, C-2, I&M districts), height tops out at 45 feet from grade under the § 152.31 zone table.