North Hempstead, NY Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

3A(3), added with the rest of the garage-sale temporary-use rule in 2015, says only that "any signage must comply with Article XXI of this chapter," meaning a garage sale sign gets no carve-out of its own and instead has to fit within the Town's regular sign code. Article XXI's list of permitted residential signs in § 70-196 is specific and does not include a garage, yard, tag, or estate sale sign as a category: it covers a professional nameplate, a real estate sale or rental sign capped at four square feet and set back 20 feet from any property line, a building contractor's sign while construction is underway, an institutional identification sign for a church, hospital, school, or public agency, and temporary signs placed by a governmental agency, church, or civic organization for public, religious, or patriotic matters.

A homemade sign advertising a private garage sale does not fit any of those categories. Article XXI's general prohibitions in § 70-197 layer on additional restrictions that would apply to any sign a resident might put up for a sale, including a ban on attaching a sign to a tree or fence under § 70-197H and a ban on signs made of destructible material such as paper or cardboard displayed outdoors except where a specific subsection allows it. Any sign that is otherwise permitted still needs an application and fee under § 70-198 before it goes up.

Read together, these sections mean a resident cannot assume a cardboard arrow sign taped to a telephone pole or stapled to a neighbor's fence for a Saturday garage sale is lawful signage under the Town's code.