Washington County, MN Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Digital/flashing signs
- Prohibited
- Electric reading boards
- Prohibited
- Electrically illuminated signs
- Prohibited (Sec. 1.10(4)(K))
- Removal notice period
- 30 days after written notice
- Governing provision
- Development Code Ch. 2, Sec. 1.10(4)(E), (K)
Summary
Washington County's Development Code flatly bans flashing signs, including any sign containing an electric reading board. Section 1.10(4)(E) prohibits signs emitting intermittent, rotating or direct light that could be confused with traffic, aviation or emergency signaling, ruling out digital and electronic billboard displays county-wide.
(E) Flashing signs are prohibited. Signs emitting intermittent, rotating, or direct light which may be confused with traffic, aviation, or emergency signaling are prohibited. "Sign, Flashing: An illuminated sign which has a light source not constant in intensity or color at all times while such sign is in use or a sign containing an electric reading board."
Full Breakdown
10 defines 'Sign, Flashing' as an illuminated sign whose light source is not constant in intensity or color while in use, 'or a sign containing an electric reading board,' which the code treats as the functional equivalent of a digital billboard. 10(4)(D), staying at least twenty-five feet from a major highway or county road surface and ten feet from a right-of-way line so light is not directed onto the roadway. Taken together, these sections leave no path to a legal changeable-message digital billboard in the unincorporated county: the sign type itself is defined as prohibited flashing signage, and the general electric-power standard bars illuminated displays outside narrow, diffused-lighting exceptions. Cities inside the county, including Stillwater and Woodbury, regulate electronic signage under their own separate municipal codes.
Violations & Fines
An operating flashing sign or electric reading board is a direct violation of Section 1.10(4)(E) and (K); the Zoning Administrator can order an unpermitted or prohibited sign removed by the owner, agent or person with beneficial use of the property within thirty days of written notice under Section 1.10(4)(N), and a sign erected without the required Sign Permit is separately subject to that same removal process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put up a digital billboard in unincorporated Washington County?
Are any electrically lit signs allowed?
What happens if a prohibited digital sign is installed anyway?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Washington County
Compare Washington County to another location·View the Minnesota sign regulations overview
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