Caldwell, ID Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Pole signs are banned everywhere else in Caldwell: § 10-02-06-4(1)(A) prohibits pole signs city-wide except for freeway-oriented pole signs in accordance with this section, making the freeway billboard the single carve-out from that general ban. To qualify, the lot has to sit on commercial, industrial, public, semi-public or institutional land within 500 feet of I-84, and only one such sign is allowed per qualifying lot under § 10-02-06-8(2)(C)1. The size and siting numbers are fixed: a 30-foot minimum setback from every property line, a 1,320-foot minimum separation measured along both sides of the interstate so operators cannot leapfrog each other with closely spaced billboards, a 672-square-foot maximum face, and a 60-foot maximum height.

A billboard that also fronts a street other than I-84 does double duty: § 10-02-06-8(2)(C)4 counts it against the property's allotment of freestanding monument signs on that other frontage, and if the lot is otherwise limited to one monument sign, adding a freeway billboard on top of it requires a special use permit. A sign permit is required before installation in every case under § 10-02-06-8(2)(C)5. The billboard remains a sign for every other citywide rule: it must meet the illumination and glare standards in § 10-02-06-12(5), and if an electronic message center is added to it, that digital portion is governed separately under § 10-02-06-8(2)(B).