Tonawanda, NY Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Town of Tonawanda Code § 215-34.16 restricts billboard placement town-wide: a note to the chapter's permitted-sign-types table states that billboard signs are only allowed on parcels that adjoin the Elmer G.H. Youngmann Expressway or the Niagara Section of the NYS Thruway, meaning the Youngmann (I-290) corridor and the Niagara Thruway frontage are effectively the only lawful billboard locations in the Town. Section 215-34.18.B then sets the dimensional standards that apply on those qualifying parcels: a maximum face area of 672 square feet, a maximum height of 45 feet measured from the grade of the adjacent thoroughfare, and a minimum ground clearance of 10 feet.

Temporary embellishments attached to the sign face are capped at 20% of the face area. Billboards must sit at least 50 feet from any residential district, and two billboards on the same side of the highway must be separated by at least 1,000 feet, limiting how densely they can be strung along the qualifying corridors. Setbacks from the property line otherwise follow the underlying zoning district's standard setback requirements in Part 2 of the Zoning Law rather than a separate billboard-specific figure. Content is also restricted: billboards shall not portray or advertise products containing alcohol, tobacco, or an adult use, a limit that applies regardless of where along the expressway or Thruway frontage the sign sits.

Because the location restriction is written into the district table rather than the billboard's own standards section, a sign meeting every dimensional requirement is still unlawful if the underlying parcel does not adjoin one of the two named highway corridors.