Santa Fe, NM Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

10(C)(5) prohibits any sign that flashes, blinks, or shows an electronic change in message, background color, or light intensity, or any electronic video display, with two exceptions: public-service traffic information such as lane closures, road closures, and detours, and electronic messaging signs that meet seven specific standards. 10. The electronic display itself, including background colors, lettering, logos, and graphics, cannot blink, flash, rotate, scroll, or change illumination intensity except at the moment the message changes, and that message can change no more than once every 24 hours, with an exception for clocks, thermometers, and public-school signs used for emergencies or special circumstances.

Illumination is capped at 2,000 nits (candelas per square meter) during daylight hours and 500 nits between a half hour before sunset and a half hour after sunrise, measured at the sign face at maximum brightness, and every electronic messaging sign must carry an automatic dimmer that steps illumination down for that nighttime window. Audio speakers are prohibited on any electronic messaging sign, and the sign must use energy-efficient lighting such as LED or compact fluorescent sources. 10(B)(1), electronic messaging signs are allowed only outside the city's historic districts and only where the structure is not a designated landmark; inside an H district or on a landmark, the historic districts review board's sign standards control instead.