Santa Rosa, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Banned
- Electronic reader boards, LED, flashing signs
- Also banned
- Windblown signs, light strings, inflatables
- Exceptions
- Time/temp, gas prices, drive-thru menus, govt signs
- Governing section
- City Code § 20-38.090(C)
- Related ban
- Off-site billboards, § 20-38.090(E)
Summary
Santa Rosa prohibits electronic reader boards, flashing signs, and any sign with digitally created content citywide under City Code Section 20-38.090(C), along with windblown signs like light-bulb strings and inflatables. The only carve-outs are time-and-temperature displays, digital gas-price signs, digital drive-thru menu boards, and government safety signage.
Moving, flashing, electronic/digital and windblown signs. No moving, rotating, flashing, or changing of color intensity or signs with electronic/digitally created content (i.e., electronic reader board signs), and no windblown signs, such as posters, pennants, streamers, or strings of light bulbs, balloons, or other inflated objects are permitted. The only exceptions to these requirements are time and temperature devices, digital service station price signs, digital drive-thru restaurant menu boards, and signs installed by a governmental agency in carrying out its responsibility to protect public health, safety and general welfare.
Full Breakdown
, electronic reader board signs)" anywhere in Santa Rosa, folding digital and LED message boards into the same prohibition as older technologies like rotating or color-changing signs. The same subsection bans "windblown signs, such as posters, pennants, streamers, or strings of light bulbs, balloons, or other inflated objects," treating flashy motion-based advertising and unstable temporary displays as the same category of problem. The code carves out exactly four exceptions: time and temperature devices, digital service station price signs, digital drive-thru restaurant menu boards, and signs installed by a governmental agency carrying out a public health or safety responsibility.
Nothing else digital gets a pass, so an LED changeable-copy sign for a retail business, a scrolling reader board outside a church, or a digital billboard face are all prohibited under this subsection regardless of brightness or content. 100's rules for winding down any digital sign that predates the 1984 sign chapter as a nonconforming use subject to removal once its amortization period runs out.
Violations & Fines
Installing or operating a prohibited electronic, flashing, or windblown sign is unlawful under Chapter 20-38, subject to a Director's order to remove or bring the sign into compliance. General Code penalties under Section 1-28.010 apply: an infraction carries up to $250 for a first offense and up to $500 for a repeat offense within a year, or the City Attorney may charge a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 and six months in jail.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a business install a digital LED sign in Santa Rosa?
Are digital billboards allowed anywhere in the city?
What is a windblown sign, and why does it matter for holiday lights?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Santa Rosa
California rules heatmap·Compare Santa Rosa to another location·View the California sign regulations overview
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