Pismo Beach, CA Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

The rule sits in the exempt temporary signs list of each sign chapter: § 17.111.050 G.3 in the 1983 Zoning Ordinance and § 17.36.060 G.3 in the 1998 Zoning Code. The Pismo Beach Municipal Code prints two zoning codes under Title 17, and this rule reads word for word the same in both, so no number changes depending on which one you read.

A display qualifies when it is a temporary holiday display or sign for decoration rather than advertising and customarily associated with national, local, or religious holidays. Both chapters also define a holiday decoration sign as a temporary sign "in the nature of decorations, clearly incidental to and customarily associated with holidays." Qualifying displays need no sign permit, and their area does not count against the maximum sign area permitted for the site or use.

The only time limit the code prints for holiday displays is the removal deadline: fourteen days after the holiday. No start date appears in either chapter, so nothing in these sections limits how early a display goes up. The clock runs from the holiday itself, and a display for a local holiday follows the same fourteen-day deadline as one for a national or religious holiday.

The neighboring items on the exempt list show how narrow the exemption is. Helium balloon displays are limited to no more than one day, hazard signs stay only as long as the hazard exists, and a special event sign is limited to twelve square feet during a city-sanctioned special event. Every other temporary sign needs a sign permit and must meet the standards for permanent signs. A display that promotes a business instead of decorating falls outside the words of the holiday exemption.

The 1983 chapter's general sign standards in § 17.111.090 D cap sign brightness at four hundred foot lamberts and bar open, unshielded light bulbs other than neon tubing. The code does not mention holiday light strings by name, so nothing printed settles whether that standard reaches them.

Pismo Beach uses two adopted zoning codes. The city's Zoning and Land Use page states that properties inside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1983 Zoning Code, and properties outside the Coastal Zone are regulated by the 1998 Zoning Code.