Rocklin, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Rocklin Municipal Code Section 17.75.090 creates a narrow digital freeway sign program layered on top of the general sign ordinance in Chapter 17.75. A digital freeway sign is defined as an off-site sign using digital message technology that displays only static messages, meaning no animation, movement, flashing, scintillating lighting, or varying light intensity is allowed on the display. The Community Development Department will not approve any digital freeway sign unless the city has first entered into an operating agreement with the sign owner covering compensation to the city, permanent removal of at least three preexisting freeway billboards, city access to display time for community messages and public safety notices, access for Amber Alert and emergency-disaster communications, and quality and maintenance standards.

No single applicant may seek approval for more than three digital freeway signs, and citywide the program caps out at three signs total once three or more existing billboards are removed: one on Interstate 80, one on the State Route 65 By-Pass, and one on the balance of State Route 65. Structures cannot exceed sixty-five feet measured from the freeway centerline to the top of the sign structure, and every sign must clear design review. Each face is capped at fourteen feet by forty-eight feet (672 square feet) plus framing, exempt from the standard sign-area limits in Section 17.75.050, and each message must hold for a minimum of eight seconds. The signs are also barred within three hundred feet of any residentially used parcel, measured from the sign base.