Lafayette Parish, LA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Removal ratio
- 2x sign area removed per conversion
- Residential setback
- 300 feet from residential zoning/subdivision
- Digital-to-digital spacing
- 1,500 feet between digital billboards
- Message hold time
- 8-second minimum per message
- New billboards
- Off-premises billboards banned parish-wide
Summary
Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government allows a nonconforming billboard face to convert to digital only if the owner removes twice as much billboard area elsewhere and meets spacing and distance limits.
A billboard face may be converted to one static, intermittently changeable, digital display with the following conditions... billboards located within the jurisdiction of LCG totaling at least two times the sign area of the proposed digital billboard face being converted shall be permanently removed... No billboard proposed for conversion may be closer than 1,500 feet to another digital billboard... Each message appearing on a digital billboard shall remain fixed for at least eight seconds, and message changes shall be instantaneous...
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 65).
Full Breakdown
The Development Code bans new off-premises advertising signs across the City of Lafayette and unincorporated Lafayette Parish, so digital billboards can only come from converting an existing nonconforming billboard face. LCG requires removing other billboard area equal to twice the digital face's size, keeps the new digital structure at least 300 feet from any residential district, and bars it within 1,500 feet of another digital billboard. Each message must hold for at least eight seconds with instant transitions, no flashing or fading, and the sign must freeze or shut off on malfunction. This applies in Lafayette proper and the unincorporated parish, not in Broussard, Carencro, Duson, Scott, Youngsville or Milton.
Violations & Fines
Installing an off-premises sign without a DPD permit, or converting a billboard without meeting the removal, spacing, and distance requirements, violates the sign code; DPD can order removal at the owner's expense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone build a brand-new digital billboard in Lafayette Parish?
Does this ordinance cover billboards in Broussard or Youngsville?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Lafayette Parish
Compare Lafayette Parish to another location·View the Louisiana sign regulations overview
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