West New York, NJ Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

The Town's sign chapter, Chapter 338, adopted by the Board of Commissioners on 3-23-2017 as Ord. No. 8/17, does not use the words digital or electronic for signs. Three provisions reach a lit, image-changing advertising display. First, § 338-5 defines a billboard as any sign erected or maintained for the purpose of displaying outdoor advertising for products or services that is in excess of 40 square feet, and § 338-13(A)(1) prohibits any billboard in all districts. The definition turns on size and advertising purpose, not on technology. Second, § 338-12(C) says no sign shall be flashing, running or blinking, that all illumination must be fixed and solid, and that any sign that changes images must have ten-second intervals between images. Third, § 338-13(A)(6) prohibits any sign that, in whole or in part, is moving, mobile or revolving.

Other limits in § 338-12 apply to every sign: no more than three floodlights per surface for external illumination, no artificial illumination after 11:00 p.m. or before 7:00 a.m. unless the business is operating and/or attended and open to the public, and no illumination exceeding 8,500 nits, which the code prints as a color temperature of 8,500 nits.

The zoning chapter reads differently on billboards. Section 414-24(G) prohibits billboards and other outdoor advertising displays in all districts except industrial districts, where one is permitted if it advertises the existing industry that occupies the site, does not face a contiguous residential district and is not on a roof. Section 414-22(D)(5) separately prohibits flashing, moving or intermittently illuminated signs. Because the two chapters do not match, the Zoning Officer, who acts on sign permit applications within 15 business days of receipt (§ 338-6), is the contact for any proposal.