Leon County, FL Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Sec. 609(a) limits Leon County to six digital billboard signs total, and no single applicant may apply for or hold more than two-thirds of that cap, meaning four signs at most. Under subsection (b), an applicant earns a digital billboard permit only by permanently removing four existing off-site signs first; a nonconforming sign under Sec. 302(a), (d) or (e) counts as two off-site signs toward that total, and at least one removed sign must come from the same county commission district where the new digital billboard will stand.

Removed signs are struck from the county's billboard inventory under subsection (c) so they cannot be swapped back in later. Subsection (d) sets the technical standards: no digital billboard may sit within 300 feet of residentially zoned property, no flashing lights, traveling text or animation is allowed, each message must display for at least six seconds, and the transition between messages must complete within two seconds. Brightness is capped by color and by day or night, measured in candelas per square foot at any point on an adjacent roadway, berm or vehicular approach; red is capped at 200 candelas by day and 67 at night, green at 400 and 133, amber at 300 and 100, blue at 500 and 210, and any combined color reading is capped at 400 by day and 170 at night. Every sign must default to a fixed static message if it malfunctions.