Portage County, WI Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Section 7.1.4(4)(b)14 of the Portage County Code sets the sign standards for the Neighborhood Commercial District (C1), one of the county's business zoning districts. Item (c) caps the total surface area of all business signs on a lot at two square feet per lineal foot of lot frontage, up to a hard ceiling of 200 square feet in gross surface area, and item (i) limits the top of any such sign to 15 feet in height at natural grade. Item (h) addresses illumination directly: 'Business signs may be illuminated, but flashing or intermittent lighting is prohibited, except information signs that state the time, date, temperature and message.' That single carve-out is the code's only allowance for a sign with changing, flashing-style content, meaning a full-motion digital billboard or an electronic message center cycling through advertising copy falls outside what the C1 district permits; only a static-mounted illuminated sign, or one limited to displaying time, date, temperature and a short message, complies.

The Highway Commercial District (C4) and other business districts carry parallel sign provisions elsewhere in Section 7.1.4. Because the county's zoning code governs only the unincorporated towns, a billboard proposed along a state or federal highway must also meet the separate five-foot highway-right-of-way setback the code applies to signs generally, and any billboard exceeding these standards would need a special exception from the Board of Adjustment.