St. Petersburg, FL Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

8 of the Sign Code lets digital or electronic off-premise signs, billboards, into St. Petersburg only through an enforceable agreement with the City that trades a reduction in the citywide count of static off-premise signs for the right to convert or build a digital face, under authority of the Bert J. Harris, Jr. 20). Even with an agreement, a digital billboard can only sit within 100 feet of an interstate right-of-way, including the downtown feeders, and is barred outright from a National Register or locally designated historic site, or within 500 feet of one, and within 500 feet of residentially zoned property.

Signs must be spaced so a driver can't read two at once, at least 2,500 feet apart along the same roadway when facing the same direction. Each sign face can't exceed 14 feet 1¾ inches in height or 48 feet 2¼ inches in width, including any border, and the structure tops out at 25 feet, or the height of the static billboard it's replacing if taller. Messages must hold for at least ten seconds, change instantly with no animation, flashing or scrolling, and each sign needs a light sensor that adjusts brightness against ambient light so it never exceeds the code's foot-candle ceiling.

A default mechanism must black out the display or shut it off on any malfunction. The whole conversion program sunsets 20 years after its August 23, 2012 effective date, after which sign owners must convert back to static faces or demolish the digital structures.