On September 21, 2026 the Dubuque City Council by a vote of 7-0 passed an amendment to the city’s off premise sign rules.  The amendment includes the following restrictions on billboards:

• A 750′ circular separation between billboards up from 500′ on city streets currently.
• A new 200′ buffer zone between a billboard and parks, schools, residential zones or city landmarks.
• A reduction in the maximum permitted size of a billboard from 750 square feet to 672 square feet.

Billboard Insider’s take: This amendment tightens billboard regulations without eliminating billboards.  672 feet is the square footage of a standard 14 by 48 billboard.  Existing billboards are not impacted by the code changes although some billboards will now be considered non-conforming.  The city’s planning director said at the hearing that 6 billboard companies are impacted by the rule change and that Lamar Advertising spoke at a public hearing in favor of the rule change.

Here’s a link to the Dubuque City Council Meeting.  The off-premise amendment is discussed at 28:09.

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