Decatur, AL Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Section 25-74(a) lists temporary signs that need no building permit, and item (3) covers signs erected in connection with the observance of generally recognized holidays. The only deadline sits at the back end: removal no later than ten days after the end of the holiday being observed. The provision sets no start date and no cap on how early a holiday sign can go up, and the definitions in § 25-72 do not define which holidays count beyond the phrase generally recognized holidays.

Item (9) of the same subsection shows how the city treats holiday timing elsewhere. One balloon per vehicle can be tied to a vehicle on a string of ten feet or less, no larger than two feet by two feet by two feet, from noon Friday until midnight Sunday each weekend and on eight named holidays: New Years Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Placement rules still apply. Section 25-74(b) bars temporary signs in any street right-of-way or on a utility pole, and bars placing one on another person's building, wall, tree, fence or property without the owner's consent. Under § 25-78(b), in non-residential districts a temporary sign cannot sit within ten feet of a public right-of-way; if it is in a setback area but not closer than ten feet, it cannot exceed three and one-half feet in height; if it is more than ten feet out and outside any setback area, it cannot exceed six feet. Section 25-76(j) separately bars flashing, intermittent, rotating or moving lights, or lights of changing intensity, visible from a public street or highway, and § 25-76(c) bars streamers, pennants and ribbons in every district.