Bristol Township, PA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Bristol Township regulates garage and yard sales as a temporary accessory use in § 205-16G(2)(g). The Code defines the use as the temporary display and sale of goods and craft items on a residentially used property. Because the definition reaches craft items as well as household goods, a resident selling handmade items from the yard falls under the same limits as a neighbor clearing out a garage.

Subsection [1] sets three numeric limits. First, such temporary uses shall be limited to occurrences of not more than three days. Second, such occurrences shall be limited to not more than four occurrences in a calendar year. Third, there shall be at least a thirty-day period between such occurrences. The three limits work together: the duration cap applies to each sale, the annual cap counts sales in the calendar year, and the thirty-day gap spaces them out so sales cannot run back to back.

Subsection [2] adds that signs advertising garage or yard sales shall meet the requirements of Article XXIX, the Township's sign regulations. Sign size, number and removal are covered on the garage-sale signs page.

The garage sale provision belongs to Use G2, Residential Accessory Building, Structure or Use, which is permitted by right in the R-1 District under § 205-22 and in the R-2 District under § 205-25. No separate sale permit or fee appears in the provision, so the compliance burden is the three limits themselves. The Township enforces the zoning chapter through civil proceedings under § 205-205, and Township Council enacted the chapter that carries these limits.