Modesto, CA Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

The definition in section 10-6.102(x) limits a garage sale sign to advertising the sale of used or secondhand goods at dwellings on residentially zoned property, covering what residents also call patio sales or yard sales. Table 6.1-1, the residential and office zone sign table, lists garage sale signs among the temporary sign types allowed in the R-1, R-2, R-3 and P-O zones; the commercial and industrial table has no garage sale row, so the exemption does not extend to a business. Section 10-6.105(a)(1)(iv) exempts garage sale signs from the sign permit and fee that section 10-6.103 otherwise requires citywide, but that exemption is conditioned on complying with all the article's other requirements, so the two-sign, three-square-foot, five-foot cap in section 10-6.107 still controls.

The signs must be unlighted, can be displayed only for the actual duration of the sale rather than left up before or after, and require the consent of the property owner where they are installed. Section 10-6.110(f) separately bars any sign, garage sale or otherwise, from being attached to a City street tree, utility pole, street signal, streetlight, street name sign, traffic warning sign, or bus shelter, and section 10-6.110(d) bars a sign from obstructing a driver's vision at a street intersection or driveway.