Santa Rosa, CA Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Section 20-38.040(F) exempts "up to one sign located at the residence where the garage sale sign is being conducted and not exceeding four square feet" from the Sign Permit process that Section 20-38.030 otherwise requires for every sign in the City. That is the entire textual allowance: one sign, at the sale address, four square feet or smaller. It does not create an exemption for signs placed anywhere else, such as at a nearby intersection to direct traffic to the sale.

That distinction matters because Section 20-38.090(B) separately declares it a public nuisance to tack, post, paint, glue, or otherwise affix any sign, including posters, flyers, and handbills, to a tree, pole, post, or other structure on public property or within the public right-of-way without the owning agency's written authorization. Signs posted that way are subject to immediate removal, the violation is prosecuted as an infraction, and the code specifies that the posting of each sign constitutes a separate violation, so a string of directional garage-sale placards zip-tied to street-sign poles around a neighborhood can generate multiple separate citations rather than one. Anyone with an ownership or organizing interest in the sale is strictly liable alongside whoever physically posted the signs. Because the residence-sign exemption in 20-38.040(F) is limited to the sale address, sellers who want off-site directional signage have no permitted path for it under Chapter 20-38, and the Code Enforcement Officer may also order removal of any sign, including a conforming one, that becomes dilapidated or abandoned under Section 20-38.020(E).