Ocala, FL Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Section 110-191(a) starts from a flat prohibition: no tri-vision or digital off-site advertising sign is allowed in the city except as the section itself provides. The city then issues permits for new digital or tri-vision signs only against removal credits: an owner outside the target removal area needs to remove existing off-site advertising signage totaling at least a 4:1 square-footage ratio against the new sign, while inside the target removal area, the community redevelopment areas as they existed on January 1, 2011, plus a 1,000-foot buffer around them, the ratio jumps to 8:1.

Removal credits earned inside the target removal area count at a 2:1 rate and those earned outside count at 1:1, and a certificate documenting the credited square footage can be held, redeemed for a permit, or transferred to a third party once the building department confirms the removal by site inspection. Once erected, every digital sign must hold each message for a minimum of six seconds, change between messages within a maximum of two seconds and switch the entire face simultaneously, and it may not use flashing lights, traveling messages, animation or interactive features like facial or license-plate recognition.

An owner without enough banked removal credits can instead pay the city $150,000 per new sign into a fund the city uses solely to compensate other sign owners for removing nonconforming billboards.