Lakeville, MN Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Lakeville City Code section 11-23-19.F sets a separate, more generous set of sign standards for properties within the Freeway Corridor District along I-35, applying in the M-1, C-2, C-3, O-P, I-1, and I-2 zoning districts. Every lot in the corridor is limited to one freestanding sign, but the size and height allowances scale with the size of the principal building on the site. For a building under 100,000 square feet of gross floor area, the freestanding sign face cannot exceed 150 square feet per side and the structure cannot rise above 30 feet.

Once a principal building reaches 100,000 square feet or more, the freestanding sign allowance jumps to 400 square feet per face and 50 feet in height, letting anchor retailers and large industrial users along the corridor put up a substantially bigger sign than a comparable use elsewhere in the city. The code also carves out a distinct height bonus for convenience food, hotel, motor fuel, and restaurant uses built on land that sits below the elevation of the I-35 centerline: measuring from the closest point between the sign and the centerline, those signs may rise up to 30 feet above the centerline elevation, so long as the sign's total height never exceeds 70 feet.

That bonus exists because a standard 30 or 50 foot sign on a low parcel would otherwise sit below the sightline of drivers on the freeway, defeating the purpose of a freeway-facing sign. The Planning and Community Development Department reviews Freeway Corridor District sign plans against these standards before issuing a sign permit.