Dearborn Heights, MI Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Sec. 26-11 of the City Code lists signs that are prohibited everywhere in the city notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the chapter, except for those the board of sign appeals allows. Item (3) targets exterior string lights used in connection with a commercial premises, generally banning them, but it exempts holiday decorations, provided they do not stay up for more than 60 consecutive days. That 60-day cap is the only duration limit the sign chapter places on holiday lighting; once a display exceeds it, the lights lose the exemption and become a prohibited sign like any other unlicensed string-light display.

Other items on the same prohibited list bar flashing or moving lights (except barber poles and code-compliant LED signs), exterior banners, pennants, spinners and streamers, and any sign that is structurally or electrically unsafe or in disrepair. Sec. 26-19 gives the Building and Engineering Department authority to order a noncompliant sign removed at the owner's expense after written notice and a chance to be heard, and the department can act faster if the display is an immediate hazard to health or safety. Because Chapter 26 is a Class C classified chapter under Sec.

1-11(e), keeping commercial holiday string lights up beyond 60 consecutive days is a municipal civil infraction fined $200 for a first offense, $400 for a second offense within a year, and $800 for a third or subsequent offense.