Watsonville, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Section 14-21.060 of the Watsonville Municipal Code lists prohibited sign types, and item (7) bans digital display and electronic reader board signs which allow the image on a sign to be changed by electronic control methods. The ban has two carve-outs, both in Section 14-21.080. Gas and service station signs under subsection (h)(4) allow digital changeable copy signs for gasoline pricing, and subsection (i) allows a maximum of one digital display sign not exceeding four square feet on each street frontage to show the number of available parking spaces. No other digital display sign is allowed, so a changing-message billboard has no path in the sign chapter.

Other prohibitions in Section 14-21.060 reach the same hardware. Animated signs are prohibited except clocks and barber poles, signs that emit sound are prohibited, and signs which flash, blink, change color, or change intensity placed on the exterior of a property, or visible from outside the premises, are prohibited. Beacon signs and roof signs are also on the list. Section 14-21.030(f)(3)(iv) adds that the right to substitute a new message on a legally established sign does not allow the establishment of a prohibited sign.

Traditional billboards are handled by cross-reference. Section 14-20.070 says advertising signs, billboards or other advertising structures shall be subject to Section 8-6.117. Inside Chapter 14-21, Section 14-21.070(f)(1) requires all signs to be located on the same parcel as the business or use that it serves, except as otherwise allowed by the chapter, and Table 14-21-1 caps total sign area per property at 300 square feet in the IG, IP, CT, CV, CNS, CO and CN districts.