Royal Oak, MI Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Chapter 607, Signs, lists prohibited signs at § 607-10, and two of those prohibitions carry an express carve-out for seasonal decorations. Subsection D bars string lights generally but excludes seasonal decorative displays from that ban, and subsection R bars permanent architectural lighting details around windows and doors, such as unshielded neon or argon tubes, fluorescent fixtures, fiber-optic lights, LEDs, or bare bulbs, again excluding seasonal decorative displays. Read together, the sign code treats holiday and seasonal lighting as a category the City does not regulate as a sign, so a homeowner or business stringing up holiday lights is not subject to the permit and enforcement structure that governs commercial signage, including the escalating civil-infraction fines of § 607-19 (starting at not less than $100 for a first violation and rising to a misdemeanor after a fourth).

Separately, the zoning code's lighting standards at § 770-96B(3)(f) require all lighting, including ornamental lighting, to be shown on site plans in enough detail to assess its effect on neighbors and traffic safety, but that same subsection exempts temporary holiday lighting and decorations from that site plan disclosure requirement, reinforcing that seasonal displays sit outside the City's ordinary lighting and sign review process.