Tulare County, CA Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

There is no separate garage-sale-sign ordinance specific to unincorporated Tulare County. Instead, temporary signs - including garage, yard, and estate-sale signs and the directional arrows that point to them - are treated as temporary signage under the County Zoning Ordinance (Ordinance No. 352) and the County Ordinance Code. The clearest hard rule is County Code section 2-09-1005, which makes it unlawful for anyone other than an authorized County officer to fasten 'any card, banner, handbill, campaign sign, poster, sign, advertisement, or notice of any kind' to a lamppost, pole, hydrant, bridge, wall, tree, sidewalk, or any structure on County property; that prohibition covers the common practice of stapling garage-sale signs to utility poles and street-sign posts.

Such signs can be removed under section 2-09-1025, with the person responsible liable for removal costs. Off-premise temporary signs placed along or near a state highway also fall under California's Outdoor Advertising Act and Caltrans rules, which restrict placement within the highway right-of-way. On the seller's own private property, a garage-sale sign is generally allowed subject to the zoning ordinance's size, placement, and duration limits for temporary signs; owners should confirm the specific temporary-sign standards for their zone with the Resource Management Agency. Best practice is to keep signs on private property with the owner's permission and to remove them promptly after the sale.