Renton, WA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

RMC 4-4-100(C)(3) is Renton's prohibition on dynamic signage, split into two zones. Outside the City Center, subsection (a) bans signs within 75 feet of the public right-of-way that are animated, revolve more than 8 times per minute, blink, or flash, carving out only two exceptions: public service signs that display time, temperature, or humidity, and electronic message boards or signs at public facilities and at car dealers located within the Automall Area(s). Inside the City Center Sign Regulation Area Boundaries, subsection (b) applies the same animated/revolving/blinking/flashing ban with no distance qualifier, exempting only public service signs and barber poles, meaning a digital billboard or electronic reader board is effectively unavailable to a typical City Center business regardless of where on the lot it sits.

Where the narrow public-facility exception does apply, RMC 4-4-100(E)(4)(d) caps the allowed electronic or manual message board at 25 feet in height and 150 square feet in size, one per facility, plus a separate freestanding identification sign no higher than 6 feet and no larger than 100 square feet per street frontage. Any sign not specifically authorized elsewhere in the chapter is prohibited outright under RMC 4-4-100(E)(1). A sign permit and fee under RMC 4-1-140M apply to any sign that isn't specifically permit-exempt, and nonconforming signs erected before the current code took effect can continue in limited use but cannot be altered beyond 50 percent of replacement value without becoming fully conforming.