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

Montebello's sign chapter singles out freeway-facing signage because it serves drivers rather than passersby on the street. Section 17.62.100(B) permits one freeway-oriented sign, in addition to any other signs otherwise allowed on the site, when the property sits within five hundred feet of a freeway right-of-way and is developed with either a service station or detached restaurant, or a commercial, industrial, or recreational center or single business on a site of at least two acres. The maximum height is twenty-five feet above the grade of the freeway or the sign's location, whichever is greater.

Size depends on the use: a service station is capped at one hundred sixty square feet per sign face, while other qualifying uses get one hundred sixty square feet plus one additional square foot for every one thousand square feet of the building being advertised, up to an absolute ceiling of six hundred square feet of sign face. Section 17.62.170 separately defines a related but distinct category, the 'freeway sign,' as a sign identifying a specific service-oriented business such as a restaurant, lodging, or automobile service located adjacent to the freeway right-of-way or separated from it only by a frontage road.

Supporting structures must match the building's exterior materials and cannot create a visual obstruction or safety hazard, and no freeway-oriented sign may project across a property line except as allowed under Section 17.62.120.