Olympia, WA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Olympia Municipal Code 18.43.050 opens by stating that no person shall erect, alter, maintain, or relocate the listed signs in the City and that existing signs of those types must be removed. Item D on that list is Billboard Signs. Item B bans any animated sign except traditional barber signs, so a digital board that scrolls, flashes or moves is blocked twice. The definition in OMC 18.02.180 describes a billboard as a rigidly assembled outdoor sign, permanently affixed to the ground or to a permanent structure, that is unrelated to any use or activity on the property where it stands. OMC 18.43.020 adds that no sign can be erected or maintained in the City except signs the chapter specifically identifies, and that signs can only be established as accessory to a principally permitted use. Item I of 18.43.050 separately bars a permanent sign as the principal use of a lot, parcel, or easement.

The electronic displays Olympia does allow are governed by OMC 18.43.060.C.3. Brightness must be comparable with internally illuminated signs, and the sign must carry photocell light sensors with automatic dimming that adjusts to ambient light. Hold time is a minimum of five minutes for public service signs at academic schools and three minutes for electronic development identification signs. A transition between messages needs a minimum fade in and out time of one second. Any permitted electronic sign that malfunctions or ceases to operate in its normal programmed manner must be repaired or disconnected within five days by the owner or operator.

OMC 18.43.120.B.6 allows one electronic development identification sign, up to twenty-five feet in height with up to three hundred square feet of copy area per side, only for a shopping center with over four thousand linear feet of street frontage along arterial and major collector streets and over eight hundred thousand square feet of enclosed commercial retail, entertainment, and dining space. OMC 18.43.070.Q.5 says no portion of a standard shopping center sign can contain an electronic or digital message, and 18.43.070.P requires the electronic portion of an academic school public service sign to be off between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.