Salem, OR Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

070(a) flatly prohibits electronic display signs within a historic district. Everywhere else, subsection (b)(1) sets zone-based change frequency limits: in industrial zones, public zones, most mixed-use zones, and commercial zones other than Commercial Office, the display may change no more often than once every eight seconds, except hour, minute, or temperature updates, which may change every three seconds; in residential zones, the Commercial Office zone, Neighborhood Hub zone, and Fairview Mixed-Use zone, the display may change only once an hour, with the same three-second exception for time and temperature.

Subsection (b)(2) requires the actual transition between displays to complete in two seconds or less, staying static once changed, and bans dissolve, scrolling, travel, and video display unless specifically authorized. 3 foot candles above ambient light, measured with a foot-candle meter at a distance set by Table 900-1 (100 feet for signs up to 100 square feet, up to 250 feet for signs between 501 and 680 square feet), taken at least 30 minutes after sunset. Every electronic display sign must include an automatic ambient-brightness adjuster and a means to shut off the display immediately on malfunction; the sign owner must adjust brightness immediately on notice of non-compliance from the Director, with appeal rights to the Hearings Officer under contested-case procedures in SRC chapter 20J.

050 require electronic signs to be permanently and rigidly affixed and serviced by underground utilities, with the sign bottom at least 16 feet above vehicle-accessible areas unless protected from physical damage.