Santa Rosa, CA Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Section 20-38.090(D) states plainly that "signs primarily oriented toward freeways and highways are prohibited" and that "signs shall be oriented toward local streets and businesses entrances." The rule targets orientation and design intent rather than distance from a freeway, so a large freestanding sign built and angled to catch Highway 101 or Highway 12 traffic is prohibited even if the parcel it sits on also fronts a local street; the same sign reoriented toward the local frontage and business entrance would not violate this subsection.

The freeway-orientation ban sits directly next to the City's separate prohibition on off-site signs (billboards) in subsection (E), which bars any sign advertising a business, service, or product not located on the site where the sign stands, subject to a narrow exception for nonconforming signs during an amortization period or where removal would require compensation under the California Outdoor Advertising Act. Read together, the two subsections close off both routes a highway-facing billboard could take: it cannot be oriented toward the freeway, and if it also advertises an off-site business it independently fails the off-site sign ban. The Director enforces both provisions as part of the City's general sign permit review under Section 20-38.030, and a sign found to violate either subsection can be ordered reoriented, modified, or removed.