Decatur, GA Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

The City of Decatur's Unified Development Ordinance limits signage for any home occupation operated inside a dwelling in a residential zoning district to a single nameplate. Under UDO Sec. E, that nameplate cannot exceed 24 square inches, about the size of a sheet of paper folded in half, and must be non-illuminated and mounted flat against a wall of the dwelling where the business operates: no freestanding signs, no window displays, and no separate commercial signage announcing products or hours. This sits alongside the City's general residential sign allowance, which lets every dwelling unit post one noncommercial sign of up to 2 square feet under Sec.

2, but that allowance explicitly bars any commercial message, so a home-based business cannot substitute the larger noncommercial allotment for its identification sign. Sign permits are issued by the UDO Administrator, and Sec. B imposes a double-fee penalty, charging the applicable sign permit fee a second time, if a sign is erected before a permit is obtained. The UDO Administrator, per Sec. 7, can inspect any installed sign to confirm it meets the size and mounting requirements. Because the nameplate cap applies only within residential districts, a home business that outgrows a purely at-home operation and relocates to a storefront in a commercial district instead falls under the far larger allowances for storefront or street-facing business signage in Sec.

K. Enforcement of unpermitted or oversized signage runs through the Code of Ordinances Sec. 00 or up to six months' imprisonment, with each day of a continuing violation a separate offense.