Novato, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Division 19.32 of the Novato Zoning Ordinance regulates signs in all zoning districts in the City of Novato, Marin County, California, and Section 19.32.040 is its prohibited list. Item B bans animated signs, including electronic message display signs, and variable intensity, blinking, or flashing signs, except time and temperature displays, which are not considered signs. The same list prohibits balloons and other inflatable devices, banners, moving signs except barber poles, roof signs, pennants, and light bulb strings except for holiday decorations. Item J prohibits permanent off-site signs except as provided in Section 19.32.070.E.2, and item L prohibits pole signs and other freestanding signs over six feet in height.

That leaves one narrow off-site path: Section 19.32.070.E.2 allows a single off-site directional sign in a commercial zoning district with Sign Permit approval, limited to 4 square feet in area and 6 feet in height, and only where the building entry is not visible from the predominant public street and the structure sits on a lot more than 150 feet from a predominant public street frontage. Section 19.32.070.B separately caps freestanding sign height at six feet. Two areas sit outside the division's general reach: signs within the REI zoning district, and sites in the PD (Planned Development) district that are subject to specific sign standards in an approved Master Plan or Precise Development Plan.

Section 19.32.020 also states that the division does not regulate sign message content, whether commercial or noncommercial. Anything that is not prohibited still needs a Sign Permit under Section 19.32.030 unless Subsection F exempts it, and the Director reviews permit applications.