Waco, TX Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Waco's detached on-premises sign standards in C and M zoning districts, set out at Sec. 28-1092(d) of the zoning chapter, scale up specifically for properties that front a freeway or major arterial. The baseline rule allows one detached sign per premises, with an additional sign permitted for every 300 feet of frontage beyond the first 450 feet along a public right-of-way. For size, premises with frontage on a primary arterial street or a limited-access freeway may build a sign at a ratio of 11:2 square feet of sign area for each foot of frontage, capped at 400 square feet, well above the flat 120-square-foot limit available to premises on ordinary streets.

A separate 60-square-foot allowance applies to a second sign for each additional building on the same premises. Height climbs the same way: a sign on premises fronting or within 300 feet of an interstate highway may reach 50 feet, one on a controlled-access highway other than an interstate, or on a primary arterial or arterial street, tops out at 35 feet, and a sign on any other street is limited to 25 feet. The front, side, and rear yard setback for these detached signs is a uniform five feet regardless of frontage type.

If the sign sits closer than 50 feet to a residential (R) district, it may not flash and must be designed so it does not shine or reflect light into adjacent homes, though illumination itself remains allowed. These frontage-based bonuses exist because freeway and arterial-facing parcels need larger, taller signage to be legible to fast-moving traffic, and they apply only in the C and M districts, not to signs in R, R-3, or O districts, which follow the smaller size and height tables in the same section.