The Zoning Ordinance has no garage-sale-sign-specific rule. Small temporary/portable signs are treated as portable signs (a temporary sign permit, 14-day validity, 32 sq ft max) and may not be placed in the public road right-of-way.
Unincorporated Polk County does not single out garage-sale signs. Portable signs and signs for special events or promotions require a temporary sign permit from the Planning Administrator; a portable-sign permit is valid for 14 days, and no person may obtain more than four such permits in one year. Portable signs may not exceed 32 sq ft. Signs must observe the ordinance's placement rules, which keep signs off the public road right-of-way. Within incorporated cities (Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, etc.) municipal sign rules apply instead. Small, briefly displayed yard-sale signs on private property are the common practice; commercial/repeated signage triggers the portable-sign permit.
Signs placed in the right-of-way or without a required temporary permit may be removed and are enforced by Polk County Planning & Development.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Polk County allows backyard composting but regulates it through the Health Nuisance Regulation: a compost pile that harbors vermin, produces offensive odors,...
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Polk County has no ordinance banning native or prairie landscaping, and the county promotes native roadside vegetation. The one legal limit: your planting ca...
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Iowa has no state ban on collecting rainwater, and Polk County sets no rain-barrel ordinance. Residents may capture roof runoff in barrels or cisterns; only ...
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Polk County sets no lawn-watering schedule. Central Iowa's water is managed by Central Iowa Water Works / Des Moines Water Works, which can impose voluntary ...
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Iowa Code 317.10 requires every landowner to destroy all noxious weeds on their land as directed by the county board of supervisors. Polk County's Weed Commi...
See how Polk County's garage sale signs rules stack up against other locations.
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