A rep from an outdoor-advertising company knocks on the door of your warehouse near the freeway. They offer you monthly rent for the back corner of your lot — all they need, they say, is your signature and a permit. Before you sign anything, it is worth knowing that Baldwin Park bans billboards on almost every property in the city, and the narrow strip where a new one is allowed comes with a long list of conditions.
Baldwin Park prohibits off-site signs — billboards — citywide (§ 153.170.050). New ones are allowed only within 200 feet of an interstate freeway right-of-way, on commercially or industrially zoned land, with a face no larger than 48 feet by 14 feet (672 square feet) on a structure no taller than 65 feet (§ 153.170.110). Every one needs a signed agreement with the city.
Key numbers
| What | The limit | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Where a new billboard may go | Within 200 ft of an interstate freeway right-of-way, on commercial or industrial zoned property | § 153.170.110 |
| Largest display face | 48 ft wide, 14 ft high, 672 sq ft | § 153.170.110 |
| Tallest structure | 65 ft, measured from the highest point of the road it faces | § 153.170.110 |
| Gap between two static billboards | At least 500 ft | § 153.170.110 |
| Gap between two digital billboards | At least 1,000 ft | § 153.170.110 |
| Digital faces on one structure | 2 maximum, facing different directions | § 153.170.110 |
| Digital brightness | No more than 0.3 foot-candles above the surrounding light, measured 250 ft from the face | § 153.170.110 |
| How long each digital image holds | At least 4 seconds, with a changeover of 1 second or less | § 153.170.110 |
The default answer is no
Baldwin Park's sign rules draw a line between two kinds of sign. An on-site sign advertises what is actually sold at that address — the code's own definition covers views, products or services "available on the lot where located" (§ 153.220.200). An off-site sign advertises something somewhere else. That second kind is what everyone means by a billboard, and the city's list of prohibited signs names it directly: off-site signs are banned, except under a billboard relocation agreement or under the freeway-corridor rule below (§ 153.170.050).
That same list bans several things property owners often assume are fine: roof signs, murals, inflatable and balloon signs, portable A-frame and sandwich-board signs, signs painted directly on a wall or fence, signs attached to trees, fences, bridges or light poles, signs in or projecting over the public right-of-way, and vehicles parked mainly to display advertising. Abandoned signs and signs in disrepair are prohibited too — so an old sign left up after a business closes is a violation, not a grandfathered right.
The one opening: the freeway corridor
The exception is narrow and geographic. A new static or digital billboard may be installed where its copy is visible from an interstate freeway corridor, which the ordinance defines as the freeway plus the land within 200 feet of the edge of its right-of-way — and only where that land is zoned commercial or industrial (§ 153.170.110).
Being inside that strip is only the start. The ordinance also requires the billboard owner to obtain any necessary approvals from Caltrans, the state transportation agency, and to sign an agreement with the city that holds the city harmless and commits the owner to every condition of approval. Separately, you as the property owner must sign your own agreement letting the city come onto your land to remove the billboard if the agreement calls for it, and releasing the city from liability for that removal. That is the paragraph worth reading twice before a rep hands you a pen.
Spacing keeps them from clustering:
The distance between two digital billboards shall be at least 1,000'.
Static-to-static, or static-to-digital, the gap is at least 500 feet. So a neighbour's existing billboard can rule your lot out entirely, no matter how well it fits everything else.
Digital screens have their own limits
A digital billboard is a billboard using digital display technology, and the ordinance treats it as a lighting question as much as a signage one. Brightness may not exceed 0.3 foot-candles above the surrounding ambient light, measured with a light meter 250 feet straight out from the face, and each board must carry a sensor that adjusts itself automatically as daylight changes.
Motion is limited as well. A digital billboard may show only a series of still images, each held for at least four consecutive seconds, with no animation, no flashing, no scintillating light and no apparent movement — and the changeover from one image to the next may not take more than one second.
Trading old billboards for new ones
Where the city's agreement requires existing structures to come down, the ordinance sets a removal ratio. If four or fewer structures are being replaced with digital billboards, at least eight additional display faces and their supporting structures must be permanently removed from the city. Above four new structures, each additional one costs at least two more display faces. In both cases the removals have to be finished before the new structure goes up (§ 153.170.110).
Moving or upgrading a billboard that already exists
Relocating, expanding, modifying, digitizing or adding a face to an existing billboard runs through a separate section: a negotiated agreement between the operator and the city, plus a permit (§ 153.170.120). The agreement may include payment to the city or other public benefits.
An applicant has to qualify under at least one of five routes — among them an eminent domain action against the current site, a voluntary move to a more suitable location that clears the way for development, a move that reduces the visual impact on the city, credits earned with Caltrans for billboards already torn down, or a straightforward modernization of a board already standing. The applicant must also prove a legal or equitable interest in the new site, such as a lease or easement, before anything is approved.
Ordinary business signs are a different question
If what you actually want is a sign for your own business, the billboard sections do not apply to you. Permitted sign types, sizes and heights are set by zone in a table in § 153.170.080 — for example, a monument sign in the R-G and R-3 zones is limited to one sign, 24 square feet, 4 feet tall, while a monument sign in the C-1 and MU-2 zones may reach 32 square feet and 6 feet. Wall signs are capped at three per wall containing a main entrance or facing a street, and may not project more than 18 inches from the wall.
A few uses get their own allowances: a service station may keep up to four canopy signs of 50 square feet each, and a car dealership may fly banners and pennants totalling up to 15 percent of its lot area (§ 153.170.090). Advertising on bus benches is capped at 75 percent of each backrest surface and needs the City Manager's approval (§ 97.169).
You need a sign permit before anything goes up
Whatever the sign, a sign permit is required before placing, erecting, constructing, or physically altering the size, height or location of it — and before changing the sign face on an existing one. No building permit for a sign is issued until that sign permit is in hand (§ 153.210.250). A short list of signs in § 153.170.040 is exempt, so ask the Community Development counter whether yours is on it.
One last thing about the numbers above: these are Baldwin Park's own ordinance, not a statewide standard. Cross the city line and the rules change. You can read the whole Baldwin Park Zoning Code or start from our Baldwin Park overview.
Sources
- Baldwin Park Zoning Code § 153.170.110 — New static or digital billboard construction
- Baldwin Park Zoning Code § 153.170.120 — Billboard relocation agreements
- Baldwin Park Zoning Code § 153.170.050 — Prohibited signs
- Baldwin Park Zoning Code § 153.170.080 — Sign regulations by zone
- Baldwin Park Zoning Code § 153.170.090 — Sign regulations for specific land uses
- Baldwin Park Zoning Code § 153.220.200 — Definitions
- Baldwin Park Zoning Code § 153.210.250 — Sign permit applicability
- Baldwin Park Municipal Code § 97.169 — Advertising and signs on benches
