Rockingham County, VA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Ag/Rural Village districts
- Special use permit required
- Business/Industrial districts
- Permitted by-right
- Message hold time
- 30 seconds minimum, § 17-707.04(d)(1)
- Transitions
- No scrolling, dissolving, or fading
- Brightness cap
- 0.3 footcandle contrast max, § 17-707.04(d)(5)
Summary
Rockingham County allows electronic message center signs only by special use permit in agricultural and rural-village districts, and every message must hold for 30 seconds with no scrolling, dissolving, or fading transitions.
(d)The following provisions shall apply to electronic message centers:(1)Each message or image shall remain fixed and unchanged for a minimum period of 30 seconds.(2)There shall be no appearance of movement, scrolling, dissolving, or fading in which images or messages "move" or in which part of one message or image appears simultaneously with any part of a second or subsequent one.(3)The illumination intensity, contrast or coloration of the message text or image shall remain constant for each display period.(4)When such sign is installed on property located in an agricultural zoning district it shall be designed and operated so that between dusk and dawn the background field for any variable text message on the sign shall be black and the lights constituting the message text or any image shall be amber or orange.
Full Breakdown
04 classifies 'Electric Message centers' by district: they require a special use permit in Agriculture and Rural Village districts, are not permitted in Residential or Public Service districts, and are permitted by-right in Business and Industrial districts. Sec. 04(d) then sets the operating standards that apply wherever such a sign is allowed. Each message or image must remain fixed and unchanged for a minimum of 30 seconds, and no appearance of movement, scrolling, dissolving, or fading is allowed, including transitions where part of one message appears simultaneously with part of the next.
Illumination intensity, contrast, or coloration must stay constant through each display period. In agricultural districts, an electronic message center must run a black background between dusk and dawn with amber or orange text or imagery only. 3 footcandle, measured perpendicular to the sign at a distance keyed to the sign's square footage under the county's measurement-distance table, and that illuminance from these signs be included in the site's overall Sec. 17-706(e) lighting calculations. A special use permit application for a digital sign in an agricultural or rural-village district goes to the board of supervisors following the special-use-permit procedures elsewhere in chapter 17.
Violations & Fines
An electronic message center installed without the required special use permit in an Agriculture or Rural Village district, or one that scrolls, fades, or exceeds the 0.3 footcandle contrast limit, is a zoning violation subject to the Sec. 17-1201 complaint process; Sec. 17-1202 makes a confirmed violation a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $10 to $1,000, plus $100 to $1,500 for each additional ten-day period of noncompliance, and the county may revoke related permits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a gas station or farm put up a digital sign in Rockingham County?
Can a digital sign scroll or fade between messages?
Are there brightness rules for electronic signs at night?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rockingham County
Compare Rockingham County to another location·View the Virginia sign regulations overview
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