Kirkland, WA Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Under Kirkland Zoning Code (KZC) 100.115, a garage sale counts as a temporary event, and signs advertising it fall under subsection 5, Signs Associated with Temporary Events. There's no limit on the number of signs you can put up, but each sign face is capped at six square feet, smaller than the 32-square-foot allowance given to active-construction signs. Signs may go up no earlier than two days before the sale and must come down within four hours after it ends, per KZC 100.115(5)(d); leaving one up longer strips it of the temporary-sign exemption.

Placement is limited to the property where the sale is happening, or to the public right-of-way outside paved vehicular travel lanes, paved parking areas, driveway aprons and center medians, per KZC 100.115(5)(c). A sign placed on a sidewalk must leave at least five feet of clear path for pedestrian travel. All temporary signs, including garage sale signs, must be built from cloth, paper, cardboard or similarly lightweight material, installed so they can be easily removed, and they may not be lighted, per the general standard opening KZC 100.115.

Because garage sale signs are listed in KZC 100.115, they're exempt from the sign permit the city otherwise requires under KZC 100.25(1)(b) for signs the Fire Department doesn't permit structurally. That exemption holds only while the sign stays within the size, placement and duration limits above; a sign that doesn't meet them is treated like any other unpermitted sign under the chapter 100 rules the Planning and Building Department enforces.