Medford, MA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

The Medford zoning ordinance does not create a separate digital-sign category; instead, section 94-6.2.11, item 8, which governs signs on property used primarily for residence, states flatly that signs 'shall have no moving parts and shall not convey changing images and messages.' Section 94-6.2.12, item 8, which governs commercial, office, industrial, and multi-use zones, imposes the identical no-movement rule, with a narrow cross-referenced exception carried over from section 94-6.2.13.11 for time-and-temperature signs, which may change only to display the current time or temperature. Because an LED or electronic message board is defined by its ability to change its displayed image, this movement ban functions as a citywide bar on digital billboards outside that narrow time-and-temperature carve-out.

The rule sits on top of the outright billboard ban in sections 94-6.2.11(11) and 94-6.2.12(14), so a digital billboard faces two independent barriers: it is a prohibited sign type, and even if it were a permitted sign type it could not display changing content. A permit applicant proposing any illuminated or electronic sign must go through the building department's design review under sections 94-6.2.4 through 94-6.2.6, and the building commissioner enforces the movement ban under section 94-6.2.7.