Modesto, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

108(f)(3) of the Modesto Code of Ordinances creates a narrow, tightly capped pathway for digital freeway billboards: a new or converted digital billboard is permitted only as a relocation or conversion of an existing billboard, never as a net-new structure, and only along State Highway 99. Approval requires a conditional use permit that starts with a Planning Commission recommendation and ends with final City Council approval; if either body denies the permit, the applicant receives a written statement of the reasons. 703, will not create a traffic hazard, will conform to the state Outdoor Advertising Act, and will deliver a public benefit in aesthetics, safety, or economic revitalization that outweighs light pollution or visual impacts.

The development standards are specific: a billboard must sit within 660 feet of Highway 99 and at least 300 feet from any residential parcel, may show at most two faces at no more than a 45-degree interior angle, may not exceed 60 feet in height (existing nonconforming billboards keep their height if converted), and each display face is capped at 700 square feet. The City limits the whole program to seven digital freeway billboards, each at least 2,500 feet from the next. For every new digital billboard installed, the applicant must permanently remove at least four existing billboard structures within Modesto's Sphere of Influence, and the City may negotiate an operating agreement trading community benefits, such as graffiti abatement funding, for adjusted removal ratios.