Piscataway, NJ Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Section 21-1017, added by Ordinance No. 06-44 and amended by Ordinance Nos. 07-20 and 13-09, confines off-site advertising signs, called billboards, to three zones along Interstate 287: HC (Hotel Conference), LI-5 (Light Industrial) and SC (Shopping Center). Under Section 21-1017.2a, a billboard lot must front at least 500 feet along I-287's main traveled right-of-way, and the sign itself must sit within 100 feet of the I-287 right-of-way line, no closer than 500 feet to an overpass or underpass crossing I-287, and at least 500 feet from any residential zone boundary.

Section 21-1017.2b caps height at 65 feet above the elevation of I-287, measured from the nearest edge of pavement. Setbacks under Section 21-1017.2c run 10 feet from the I-287 right-of-way and 10 feet from any other lot or street line, with the sign face no more than 250 feet from the lot's primary building. Section 21-1017.2d limits each facing to 672 square feet, plus copy extensions capped at five and a half feet above and two feet to either side of the display area. Section 21-1017.2e caps the total at three billboards per linear mile counting both sides of I-287, with at least 1,500 feet between billboards on the same side.

Any billboard within 500 to 1,000 feet of a residential zone must be oriented so its copy cannot be read from that zone, use stealth-colored supports, and stay screened by trees, buildings or topography. Applications go through the site plan review process in Chapter 24, plus New Jersey Administrative Code 16:41C-1.1 through 16:41C-10.4. Billboards on Township-owned property or rights-of-way are exempt, though that exemption never raises the permitted count or shrinks the spacing rules.