Rocklin, CA Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

The Rocklin Municipal Code Chapter 17.75 sign ordinance defines a Sign broadly, then carves out a list of displays that fall entirely outside the definition and its permit requirements. Item 7 on that list covers holiday and cultural observance decorations on private property, expressly including lighting, which are exempt as long as the display is up in season for not more than forty-five calendar days per year, counted cumulatively per parcel or use, and does not include a commercial advertising message. Section 17.75.120 separately defines Holiday decorations as nonpermanent signs or displays, including lighting, celebrating national, state and local holidays or holiday seasons, and defines a related but distinct Holiday shopping season running from the third Monday in October through the second Sunday in January, a window used elsewhere in the chapter to relax window-sign coverage limits during peak retail season.

Because the forty-five-day exemption is tied to the sign definition itself rather than to a temporary-sign permit category in Section 17.75.070, a compliant holiday display never needs a sign permit or fee; it only loses the exemption if it is left up beyond forty-five cumulative days in a year or if it includes advertising for a business, at which point it is measured against the temporary or permanent sign standards like any other sign.