Goodyear, AZ Holiday Decorations: Lawn Ornament Rules (2026)

Section 4.6.5(A)(5) of the City of Goodyear Zoning Ordinance lists "Seasonal and Holiday Decorations" among the uses exempt from the provisions of the sign article, defining them as "Temporary decorative displays, associated with holidays or cultural events, that are not used for commercial advertising purposes, located on private property." Because Article 4.6 is Goodyear's entire sign code, that exemption means a homeowner's Halloween skeletons, Fourth of July bunting or Christmas lawn ornaments never trigger the permit requirement in Section 4.6.4(A), which otherwise makes it "unlawful for any person to construct, install, attach, place, paint, alter, relocate or maintain any sign within the City without first obtaining a sign permit." The same Section 4.6.5(A) also exempts "Memorials and Historical Markers," defined as "Tablets, grave markers, headstones, statuary or remembrances of persons or events, located on private property," so garden statuary placed as a memorial is likewise unregulated.

The exemption has real limits: it only covers displays that are temporary and non-commercial. A yard display that advertises a home business or carries a company name loses the exemption and becomes subject to the full sign code, including the Section 4.6.4 permit process and, if it is lit or animated, the technical standards in Section 4.6.9(D) for electronic displays. Commercial holiday inflatables used by businesses are governed separately and far more strictly: Section 4.6.11(B)(4) caps business inflatable devices at two events per calendar year, seven consecutive days each, requires them to be securely anchored, height-limited to the district's building height cap, and bars them from being animated or emitting sound, a regime that residential holiday decorations never face.