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

Pico Rivera's zoning code treats freeway-facing advertising as a single, tightly limited category: the digital billboard. Table 18.20.070.C, which governs signs in the City's industrial zones, places the digital billboard's location standard 'in any area within 60 feet of the 605 Freeway rights-of-way boundary' and cross-references Section 18.20.120 for the full regulatory scheme. Section 18.20.120(B)(2) makes clear a digital billboard can go up along the California Interstate 605 Freeway only after the operator negotiates and executes a development agreement with the City, and that agreement must include specific public benefits to the City, not just the sign itself.

Section 18.20.120(B)(4) layers on the state Outdoor Advertising Act: new digital billboards not tied to relocating an older billboard are barred from areas the state designates 'landscaped freeways' under Business and Professions Code Section 5216, unless the code's own Areas 1 and 2 exceptions or other state law permits them. Getting the agreement approved is a two-step public process under Section 18.20.120(F): the Planning Commission holds a noticed hearing and makes a recommendation, then the City Council holds its own noticed hearing and can approve the agreement only if it finds the billboard consistent with the General Plan and Municipal Code, compatible with the surrounding area, free of traffic or safety problems, non-interfering with required parking or landscaping, and not a threat to public health, safety or welfare. Community and Economic Development staff administer the application and hearing process.