Norwalk, CT Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Norwalk Code § 118-1295A governs signs on lots in Residence Zones AAA, AA, A, B and C, the zones where home occupations are permitted as an accessory use under § 118-310B(4)(a) and its counterparts. Subsection A(1)(a) allows just one sign, capped at two square feet, identifying the profession or occupation being run from the dwelling. That sign must also meet the setback and height rules in the opening clause of the subsection: nonilluminated construction, a minimum 10-foot setback from the street line, a maximum six-foot height if it is a ground sign, and a cap at the height of the first story if it is mounted on the wall.

' A home-based business cannot substitute a larger identification sign, a lighted sign, or a portable sign for the two-square-foot allowance. Before the sign goes up, § 118-1292A(1) requires zoning approval from the Zoning Inspector and a building permit from the Building Official; no sign may be erected, altered, or otherwise changed outside normal maintenance without that sign-off. The Zoning Inspector also enforces the underlying accessory-use conditions on the home occupation itself, including the one-employee cap and 500-square-foot floor-area limit in the residence-zone accessory-use sections, since a sign advertising a home occupation that has outgrown those limits flags an underlying zoning problem too.