Anaheim, CA Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Under Anaheim Municipal Code Sec. 100, a property may carry no more than one freeway-oriented sign identifying its principal use, or, for a regional shopping center, the center name plus tenant names, and the sign needs either a minor conditional use permit (Sec. 045) or a full conditional use permit (Sec. 050) before the Building Division will issue anything. Table 44-C caps the sign face at 125 square feet or one-half square foot per lineal foot of freeway frontage, whichever is less, with a maximum width of 15 feet.

Freestanding freeway signs on the same parcel must sit at least 300 feet apart from each other or from any legal nonconforming roof sign. Height tops out at 30 feet through the CUP process, but drops to 25 feet for any sign within 300 feet of a residential structure (other than a hotel or motel), rising one foot for every additional 10 feet of separation. Placement is restricted to 25 percent of the parcel's width from any abutting property line, capped at 50 feet, and the sign base must sit in a landscaped planter at least as large as the sign face, screened with shrubs within three years of planting.

Applicants seeking height above the baseline must submit line-of-sight drawings, balloon tests or computer simulations, and night-time illumination renderings for the Planning Commission or City Council to weigh. 08 bans any advertising structure designed to be viewed primarily from a freeway's traveled roadway anywhere in the city, in any zone, except for on-site signs meeting Sec. 100 or the Transit (Sec. 400), Stadium (Sec. 401) and Arena (Sec. 402) Special Sign Districts near ARTIC, Angel Stadium and the Honda Center.