Grant County, WA Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)
Key Facts
- Highway intersection buffer
- 300 feet from a main highway intersection
- Clear-view distance
- Cannot block view for 500 feet along highway
- Zoning ban
- No permit in residential, suburban, recreational zones
- Permitting body
- Grant County board of county commissioners
- On-premises exception
- 2 signs, max 6 sq ft, at the business site
- License fee
- $25/year plus $1 per sign permit
Summary
Grant County will not permit an outdoor advertising sign within three hundred feet of a highway intersection or wherever it blocks a driver's clear view of approaching traffic for five hundred feet, under GCC 5.04.060. Signs are also barred outright from residential, suburban and recreational zoning, and the board can deny any sign it judges hazardous to highway safety.
5.04.060 - Limitation on granting permits. No permit shall be granted for the erection, construction or maintenance of any outdoor advertising structure, device or display within the following territories: (1)Within areas zoned for residential, suburban and recreational zones;(2)Within distance of three hundred feet of the intersection or junction of a main traveled highway with another main traveled highway, or with a railway at a point where it would interfere with the view of a vehicle, train or other moving object on the intersecting or joining highway or railway;(3)If placed in such a manner as to prevent any traveler on any highway from obtaining a clear view of approaching vehicles for a distance of five hundred feet along said highway; ... (6)Any point which, in the judgment of the board, is or would be injurious to the property in the vicinity thereof, or injuriously affect any public interest or endanger the safety of persons using any highway.
Full Breakdown
020, at a license fee of twenty-five dollars a year and a permit fee of one dollar per panel, bulletin or sign. 060 then draws hard lines around where the board can never grant that permit, no matter the fee: not within areas zoned for residential, suburban and recreational zones; not within three hundred feet of the intersection or junction of a main traveled highway with another highway or a railway, where the sign would block the view of a vehicle or train at the crossing; and not anywhere it would prevent a traveler on a highway from getting a clear view of approaching vehicles for five hundred feet along that highway.
The same section separately bars signs the board judges injurious to nearby property or dangerous to highway users. 070 carves out a narrow exception for on-premises signs identifying the business at the building where the goods are made or sold, capped at two such signs no larger than six square feet each, plus notices required by a court or public body and legally required directional or warning signs.
Violations & Fines
Erecting or maintaining outdoor advertising in unincorporated Grant County without the license and permit GCC 5.04.010 and 5.04.020 require, or in one of the barred locations under GCC 5.04.060, leaves the structure unpermitted and subject to the county's general code enforcement and abatement authority; the board can also simply refuse or revoke the permit outright rather than let the sign stand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a business put up a sign facing the highway in unincorporated Grant County?
Are there sign rules near highway junctions specifically?
Does a business's own sign at its store count against these highway rules?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Grant County
Compare Grant County to another location·View the Washington sign regulations overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.