Medford, MA Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Section 94-3.4.1.6 sets the sign allowance for a home occupation that needs no permit: it must not exhibit any exterior indication of its presence or any variation from residential appearance, except a pole sign or wall sign no larger than two square feet. That two-square-foot limit is deliberately small, roughly the size of a large house-number placard, reflecting that an as-of-right home occupation is supposed to be invisible from the street apart from that single small sign. A home occupation authorized instead by special permit under § 94-3.4.2 follows a different rule: item 3 of that section allows a sign or name plate in compliance with section 94-6.2, the citywide sign ordinance governing dimensions, illumination and placement for signs generally, rather than the flat two-square-foot cap that applies to the as-of-right track.

In practice this means a resident who wants a larger identification sign than two square feet must first obtain the board of appeals special permit, and then size the sign to whatever § 94-6.2 allows for the district, not to whatever size the resident prefers.