West Covina, CA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Section 26-101(a) of the Development Code lists 15 categories of prohibited signs, and two of them together function as the city's ban on digital billboards and animated electronic displays. Subsection (a)(3) bars flashing, moving or otherwise animated elements or any revolving signs, language broad enough to cover LED message boards, video screens, and any sign with a moving or changing digital display, not just neon or mechanical movement. Subsection (a)(15) separately bans off-site commercial signs outright, meaning a sign advertising a business, product, or service not located on the same parcel as the sign itself, which is the category that covers conventional billboard advertising.

Together the two provisions block a business or outdoor advertiser from erecting an electronic billboard in West Covina: an off-site digital billboard would violate the off-site sign ban even before reaching the separate animated-elements prohibition, and an on-site sign with a scrolling or video display still runs into subsection (3). The prohibited-sign list opens with an exception clause covering article V, division 3 (nonconforming signs) and Sec. 26-104 (temporary banner signs), so a sign that was lawfully installed before the current code and now qualifies as nonconforming is not automatically forced out, and certain temporary banners approved under Sec.

26-104 are not swept in by the animated-sign ban. Other prohibited categories in the same subsection include roof signs, bench signs at bus stops, A-frame signs, painted wall signs, and signs erected without the landowner's consent, all enforced under the same article.