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

Freeway-oriented community business signs are a distinct sign type in HMC § 16.56.150, and off-site advertising structures (billboards) are carved out and handled in § 16.56.190. The Planning Commission reviews and can approve sign permits for on-site and off-site signs in General Commercial (CG), Planned Commercial (PC), Planned Development (PD) and Mixed Use (MU) zoning districts, and only when the sign is incorporated into a comprehensive sign program or a conditional use permit.

The base limits are 25 feet in height and 200 square feet in area per side. A taller or larger sign is possible only when proposed as part of a comprehensive sign program, after a flag test or other suitable mechanism determines that topography, vegetation or other factors require the extra height or area. One sign is allowed per property at a freeway intersection with ramps, and the Planning Commission determines how many businesses the sign advertises. Text is limited to the names of the businesses, their logo and/or type of business, and consolidating multiple businesses or logos is encouraged.

Location rules are specific. The sign must sit on a property directly abutting the freeway right-of-way, must be directed away from residential land use districts, and must be served by an underground utility connection. It can advertise only businesses located on the same side of the freeway and within a 1,000-foot radius of the freeway right-of-way, unless the Planning Commission approves an alternative as part of a comprehensive sign program or the sign is approved through a development agreement or another mechanism approved by the city council. Unless the commission decides otherwise, the sign stands in a landscaped area equal in size to the combined area of the sign faces, and the property owner maintains and irrigates it.

The flag test happens during a legally advertised and noticed on-site meeting of the Planning Commission. The applicant provides a mechanical crane to raise a cloth or plywood mock-up of about the same size as the proposed sign face to the proposed height and location, the commission views it from the freeway, surrounding properties and neighborhoods, and the applicant supplies photo-simulations or photographs before a later public hearing. Electronic changeable-copy versions of these signs are governed by HMC § 16.56.160.