Montgomery County, VA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Montgomery County's sign ordinance lists the electronic message sign as one of the permitted "Permanent" sign types alongside freestanding, monument, wall and projecting signs, and it comes with the strictest technical standard in Sec 10-45. Each image or message has to stay fixed and unchanged for a minimum of five seconds; the code bars any appearance of flashing, blinking, movement, scrolling, dissolving or fading, and it specifically prohibits one message from appearing to overlap with the next. Contrast and illumination intensity must stay constant through each display period.

3 foot-candles above ambient light, and the sign has to carry auto-dimming technology so nighttime brightness drops below daytime levels automatically. Even with those standards met, the county draws a hard line at zoning district: moving signs and electronic message signs are prohibited on residential properties in every residential district, full stop, regardless of size or brightness compliance. Separately, the ordinance's general prohibitions bar any electric sign generated by a series of moving images, such as LED video or other video technology, on a building, vehicle or mobile unit, which keeps true video billboards out of the county even in commercial districts; only a static message that changes on the five-second interval qualifies as a lawful electronic message sign.

Signs must also comply with the same illumination cap that governs parking lot lighting under Sec 10-46, and no sign lighting can shine into oncoming traffic, affect highway safety, or shine directly into a residential dwelling unit.