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

Chapter 9.32 of the National City Municipal Code, Advertising Displays Bordering Freeways, sits in Title 9 rather than in the Land Use Code, and Section 9.32.020 applies regardless of the district or zone in which the property is located. The reach is six hundred sixty feet from a freeway. Inside that band, an advertising display is barred under either of two tests: the sign is designed to have, or has, its advertising maintained primarily to be viewed from a freeway; or, because of its location, size, nature or type, it constitutes or tends to constitute a hazard to the safe and efficient operation of vehicles upon a freeway, or creates a condition that endangers the safety of persons or property there.

Definitions in Section 9.32.010 set the scope. An advertising display means advertising structures and signs. A freeway is a highway where abutting owners have no right of access, or only limited or restricted access, declared such under the state Streets and Highways Code. The chapter excludes official notices issued by a court or public body or officer, notices posted by a public officer in performing a public duty or by a person giving legal notice, and directional, warning or information signs required or authorized by law or by federal, state or municipal authority. Visible means capable of being seen, whether or not legible, without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity, so small lettering does not escape the rule.

Section 9.32.040 set removal deadlines for existing violators: three years from the effective date of the chapter, or three years from completion or acceptance of a landscaping project that converts a freeway section to a landscaped freeway, whichever is later. Planting for soil erosion control, traffic safety, fire hazard reduction or traffic noise abatement does not make a freeway a landscaped freeway.