Pacifica, CA Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Section 9-4.2904 lists every sign type the City exempts from its standard sign-permit process, and subsection (j) covers holiday decorations. To qualify, the decoration has to be one commonly associated with a national, local, or religious holiday, and the exemption only holds while the display stays within a hard time limit: no more than forty-five consecutive days at a stretch, and no more than ninety days total across the calendar year. A property owner who wants string lights, an inflatable figure, or another qualifying holiday decoration up longer than that window has to apply for an ordinary sign permit through the Planning Administrator under Section 9-4.2905, submitting a plan showing the location, size, and type of illumination and paying the nonrefundable permit fee the Council sets by resolution.

The exemption sits inside Article 29 of the Zoning Code, the same article that defines 'sign' broadly enough to reach any object, structure, symbol, display, banner, or streamer intended to attract attention, so an elaborate lighted holiday display on a commercial building face can be treated as a sign subject to the article even though a small residential display typically draws no enforcement interest. If Code Enforcement or the Planning Administrator determines a display has overstayed the 45/90-day cap, the same removal process that applies to other nonconforming signs under Section 9-4.2912 applies: written notice, a compliance deadline, and City removal at the owner's cost if the deadline is missed.