Southampton, NY Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Chapter 330, Article XXII, the Town's sign law, requires a permit for nearly every sign in the unincorporated Town, but Section 330-203A lists exempt signs that skip the permit and fee provisions of Section 330-208A through C entirely. Item (7) on that list covers temporary private homeowner garage sale, open house and yard sale signs, and it ties the exemption to three conditions read together: the sign must sit on the homeowner's own property, not a roadside easement, a neighbor's lot or a public right-of-way; it cannot exceed four square feet in area, smaller than most standard real estate signs; and it can be displayed for no more than seven consecutive days, matching the short-term nature of the sale it advertises.

This sits alongside the separate yard-sale operating rules in Chapter 283, which independently cap the sale itself at three consecutive days and require any sign for that event to comply with this Article XXII standard. A sign that is larger, placed off the homeowner's property, illuminated, or left up longer than seven days falls outside the Section 330-203A(7) exemption and becomes an ordinary sign subject to the Building Department permit process under Section 330-208A, including plan review and a permit number displayed on the sign face.