San Jacinto, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

San Jacinto Municipal Code § 17.335.030(F) sets the City of San Jacinto's billboard policy. The City completely prohibits the construction, erection, or use of billboards, meaning off-site advertising signs, other than those that legally exist in the City or hold a valid, unexpired permit as of the date the provision was first adopted. Section 17.335.040 defines a billboard as a permanent structure used for the display of off-site commercial messages. The definition turns on the message being off-site and commercial, so the code draws no line between a painted face, a poster face and an electronic one.

The City adopted the policy in compliance with California Government Code section 65850 and Business and Professions Code Sections 5354(a) and 5408.3. Permits are not issued for billboards that violate the policy, and the City takes immediate abatement action against billboards built or maintained in violation of it. The Council declared that it would have adopted the billboard policy even if it were the only provision in the sign chapter, and that the policy is severable and separately enforceable. The policy does not bar agreements to relocate existing, legal billboards, as encouraged by Business and Professions Code Section 5412.

Two other parts of Chapter 17.335 reinforce the ban. Section 17.335.050(D) lists off-site commercial signs (billboards) as prohibited in all zones and treats existing ones as nonconforming signs regulated by Section 17.335.160. Section 17.335.050(H)(7) separately prohibits off-site signs and billboards, with exceptions only for kiosk/off-site subdivision directional signs and off-site directional signs. On display technology, § 17.335.050(H)(6) prohibits changeable copy signs except as a component of another sign type allowed through the comprehensive sign program in Section 17.335.130, and § 17.335.040 defines an electronic changeable copy sign as an animated sign. Illumination is policed too: under § 17.335.060(H) every illuminated sign gets a thirty-day review, and the Director can order dimming of any illumination found excessively bright or a nuisance.