Amarillo, TX Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Home-based businesses in Amarillo may identify themselves with signage, but it is tightly capped from two directions. Sec. 4-10-83(a)(14) makes 'only the use of a nameplate' one of the conditions for qualifying as a lawful Home Occupation in the first place, so a business risks losing that zoning classification by using anything more, such as a lit sign or banner. The Sign Code in Chapter 4-2 then sets the actual size limit: Sec. 4-2-7(G) exempts 'Nameplate signs for residential locations' from the standard sign-permit process, but only up to two square feet in area.

Anything larger requires a permit under Sec. 4-2-4 issued by the Building Official, and Sec. 4-2-3 separately prohibits categories such as portable signs and banners that are not expressly allowed elsewhere in the chapter. Because both sections speak to the same nameplate concept, a homeowner running an occupation from an Amarillo house is limited on both fronts: a sign is permit-free only if it fits Sec. 4-2-7(G)'s two-square-foot ceiling, and keeping the sign that small is also what lets the business keep its Home Occupation zoning treatment under Sec.

4-10-83(a)(14). Businesses that want a bigger or illuminated sign must apply for a standard sign permit, with fees set under Chapter 4-1, and risk losing the light-touch Home Occupation classification altogether. Appeals of Building Official sign decisions go to the Zoning Board of Adjustment under Sec. 4-2-16.