Putnam County, FL Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Putnam County's sign article, article VIII of the Land Development Code, generally requires a permit before any sign goes up in the unincorporated area, but division 6 (Sec. 45-761) carves out a list of exemptions. Subsection (3) exempts 'holiday lights, decorations, and signs, provided the signs are of a decorative nature, clearly incidental, and customarily associated with any national or state holiday.' No permit application, fee, or size or duration limit attaches to a qualifying holiday display, unlike the county's temporary special-event signs under Sec.

45-744, which cap grand-opening banners at 30 days and require registration for sales events. The exemption is conditional, not automatic: the opening paragraph of Sec. 45-761 strips exempt status from any sign 'placed or constructed so as to create a hazard of any kind' or one otherwise prohibited under article VIII, division 5. A homeowner or business stringing lights or a wreath around a doorway squarely qualifies. A permanent lightbox or banner that uses a holiday theme mainly to advertise a sale, or that blocks sight lines at a driveway or intersection under Sec.

45-714, does not, because it is not 'clearly incidental' to the holiday itself. Because the exemption removes the display from 'the operation of these sign regulations' altogether, a qualifying holiday display also escapes the general prohibition on flashing or animated signs in Sec. 45-752(11), which otherwise bars signs that 'flash, move, scintillate, blink, flicker, or vary in intensity.' Once a display no longer reads as decorative and incidental, it reverts to being an ordinary sign subject to the county's full permitting and design standards under article VIII, division 2.