San Luis Obispo County, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

040 sets both the permit procedures for signs and, in Subsection C, the county's list of prohibited signs and sign materials. 6 defines a billboard as any permanent sign structure located adjacent to an Interstate or State highway, built of steel, concrete or wood, freestanding or attached to another structure, that carries advertising space leased, rented, or donated to advertisers other than the operator of the billboard itself, and it declares that structure prohibited outright, with no permit path around the ban. That prohibition covers the classic third-party billboard business model regardless of whether the display is static or digital.

2 works alongside it: any sign consisting of moving, rotating, flashing, or otherwise animated light or component is separately prohibited, a category that captures electronic message centers and digital billboard screens even where the structure itself would not meet the highway-adjacent billboard definition. 2. The Chapter's own glossary confirms the billboard definition tracks the operative text closely, describing it as a permanent sign structure adjacent to an Interstate or State highway containing advertising leased or rented to advertisers other than the billboard's operator.