Sheboygan, WI Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Sheboygan's Municipal Code, outside the separate zoning ordinance, names garage and yard sales only in the secondhand dealer definitions of § 94-102, so a sale sign is governed by the general sign and posting rules. Section 98-6 makes it unlawful, unless the Common Council grants prior approval, for any person to erect, fasten, post, paint or maintain any sign, picture, poster or advertisement upon any structure or object of any description in or on any curb, sidewalk, street, alley, public way, public ground or public waterway. The printed verb 'maintain' matters: a sign left standing on public ground after the sale ends is still covered.

On private property, § 6-1 makes it unlawful to post, place or otherwise attach any advertisement of any character upon property of another, whether real or personal, public or private, without the permission of the owner or occupant. A pole, fence or storefront belongs to someone, and the permission has to come from that owner or occupant. Section 6-2 protects advertisements that are lawfully posted: wrongfully and maliciously tearing down, defacing or covering one during the time it has value is itself unlawful.

Signs that reach into the street or alley right-of-way fall under § 98-38, where 'sign' means any sign, billboard, posterboard or similar advertising structure. No person can erect, construct or maintain one extending into, upon or over a public street or alley right-of-way without a permit from the manager of planning and inspection services. When an unauthorized sign sits in the right-of-way, the department of engineering and public works orders the owner or person in control to remove it by a date not less than three or more than 30 days from service of the order, a certified copy goes to the chief of police for service, and each 24 hours the sign stays up past the deadline is a separate violation.

One related point: § 94-102 excludes transactions at an occasional garage or yard sale from the definitions of secondhand article dealer and secondhand jewelry dealer, so a household seller is not pulled into the dealer licensing in Chapter 94.