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

Monterey Park allows one category of sign that talks to freeway traffic rather than the street: the conditionally permitted freeway sign in § 21.24.690 of Chapter 21.24. The section only reaches lots in commercial and mixed-use zones that sit lower in elevation than the freeway roadside itself, so a parcel above freeway grade cannot qualify no matter its zoning. The lot must also be within 500 feet of the edge of the outermost freeway travel lane, and approval runs through the conditional use permit process in Chapter 21.14, meaning Planning Commission review and findings before the City Council.

Subsection (A) caps the benefit at one additional freestanding or directory sign per qualifying property, up to 50 feet in height and 300 square feet in area, on top of whatever signage the property already carries under the rest of Chapter 21.24. Subsection (B) allows one animated sign, but that animated sign counts against the property's existing wall sign allowance rather than adding a new category. Subsection (C) draws a hard residential buffer: no freeway sign, however compliant otherwise, may sit within 100 feet of any residentially zoned property, and Chapter 21.26 separately bars sexually oriented businesses from using a freeway sign at all.

Design still has to satisfy the architectural-compatibility and illumination standards in § 21.24.480, and every application still needs Planning Commission approval under § 21.24.570 before the City issues a sign permit. A freeway sign that goes up without the conditional use permit, or that exceeds the 50-foot/300-square-foot cap, is treated the same as any other unpermitted sign under the nonconformity and abatement provisions that close out Chapter 21.24.