Mesa, AZ Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Copy change interval
- minimum 8 seconds
- Animation/flashing
- prohibited
- Malfunction fail-safe
- required, freeze display
- Site minimum
- 50 acres, 1,500 ft freeway frontage
- Max sign face
- 672 sq ft per face
Summary
Electronic billboards in Mesa's Billboard Overlay District must hold copy for at least eight seconds, cannot animate, flash or simulate movement between messages, and must freeze on one image if the display malfunctions, under Title 11, Chapter 25.
Electronic Billboard Requirements. Electronic Billboards must comply with the following:1.Copy Change. Copy must not change more than once every eight (8) seconds.2.Message Animation.a.Animation, video, flashing, blinking, or moving lights are prohibited.b.In the transition between copy, there must not be any sense of movement from one message to the next.3.Malfunction. An electronic Billboard must contain a default design mechanism that freezes copy in one (1) position if a malfunction occurs.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 22).
Full Breakdown
Digital billboards are folded into Mesa's Billboard (BB) Overlay District rules at Title 11, Chapter 25, which only attaches to sites in the Infill Development District-2 (ID-2), Public and Semi-Public (PS) or Mixed-Use (MX) base zoning that are at least 50 acres with 1,500 feet of freeway frontage. Section 11-25-4(F) is the specific electronic-display standard: copy on an electronic billboard cannot change more than once every eight seconds, and the code bans animation, video, flashing, blinking or moving lights outright, the transition between one message and the next may not create any sense of movement.
Every electronic billboard must also carry a default design that freezes the display on a single static image if the unit malfunctions, so a broken sign can't cycle or flicker indefinitely. These rules stack on the overlay's general limits: no more than two billboards per overlay district, a 672-square-foot maximum sign face (14 feet by 48 feet), 60-foot maximum structure height, and spacing of at least 1,000 feet from another billboard or Freeway Landmark Monument and generally 500 feet from residential zoning or use. Auditory effects, including music, are banned on any billboard under Section 11-25-4(E).
Applications go through the Chapter 67 Common Procedures permit process and require a development or intergovernmental agreement with the City Council before the overlay district is approved.
Violations & Fines
An electronic billboard that changes copy faster than every eight seconds, animates, flashes, or fails to freeze on malfunction violates Section 11-25-4(F); Code Compliance and the Building Safety Division enforce through the Title 4, Chapter 1 building-permit and maintenance provisions incorporated by Section 11-25-5.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often can an electronic billboard change its message in Mesa?
Are animated or flashing digital billboards allowed in Mesa?
What happens if an electronic billboard in Mesa malfunctions?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mesa
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