Lynn, MA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

A of the 2019 sign ordinance lists flashing, moving, or intermittent lighting signs among the prohibited signs 'not permitted, constructed, erected, or maintained' anywhere the chapter applies, which is the City of Lynn outside the Central Business District, with a single carve-out for public service signs that show only time and temperature. That blanket ban is what keeps LED and other digital message billboards out of Lynn: any sign design that changes, scrolls, or flashes its message falls inside the prohibition. Static billboards are handled separately under Section 9:00.

Before anyone erects or maintains a billboard or other outdoor advertising device, the Commonwealth's Outdoor Advertising Board must approve it under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93, Sections 30 and 32; the city layers its own annual permit fee on top, set by the Department of Inspectional Services and due every April 1. The department inspects every billboard's structural integrity annually and reports the results to the City Council. If an inspection turns up a structural problem, the owner has fourteen days to fix it or the Council can revoke the billboard's permit outright.

Any repair or alteration to an existing billboard also requires its own permit application naming every contractor doing the work and confirming each holds the state licenses the work requires.