Chapel Hill, NC Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Section 5.14.4 lists the signs the Land Use Management Ordinance exempts from regulation and from the zoning compliance permit otherwise required for any sign visible from a public right-of-way under Sec. 5.14.2. Subsection (k) covers yard or garage sale signs specifically: one sign per site of the sale, capped at 4 square feet of display surface, and removed within 7 days of being posted, whether or not the sale itself lasted that long. Like every sign listed under Sec. 5.14.4, a garage sale sign only keeps its exempt status if it is not illuminated; an illuminated version loses the exemption and would need a permit under the general sign standards in Sec.

5.14.6 through 5.14.11. The sign also cannot encroach into the public right-of-way except to the extent Sec. 5.14.3 separately allows for encroaching sign types, and Sec. 5.14.6 still requires that any sign relate to the activity on the premises where it sits. Because the exemption is tied to the 7-day removal clock rather than to any permit expiration date, a sign left up longer, whether because the sale is over or was never held, converts an otherwise exempt sign into an unpermitted, noncompliant sign under the ordinance.