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

Division 2 of Chapter 3 governs any 'advertising structure' or 'sign' visible from a freeway, defined broadly in Sec. 1 to include any structure or printed material used for outdoor advertising. Sec. 2's ban catches a sign wherever it is designed to have or has advertising maintained primarily to be viewed from the freeway, and location within 600 feet of the freeway right-of-way triggers a rebuttable presumption that the sign qualifies. Sec. 3 separately bars any sign, regardless of its distance from the freeway, that by its location, size, nature, or type constitutes a traffic hazard to vehicles on the freeway or its ramps.

Sec. 6 bans moving parts, flashing lights, or changing messages on any permitted sign visible from a freeway. A sign lawfully in place before the division took effect is nonconforming and may stay, but Sec. 4 forces removal within 30 days of written notice if the director of public works, director of planning, and city building inspector jointly find it dangerous, and forces removal of any freeway-oriented sign within one year of the freeway segment's completion or three years of the division's effective date, whichever comes first.

Sec. 5 exempts legally required notices, government directional signs, for-sale or for-lease signs on the subject property, and on-site business identification. Any other sign visible from a freeway needs a permit from the chief building inspector under Sec. 7, with a ten-dollar fee under Sec. 8, and Sec. 10 has the chief building inspector, director of public works, and director of planning decide by majority vote whether the sign is freeway-oriented.