Santa Clara, CA Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

070(A). Item 3 covers holiday displays and decorations, which are allowed without a Sign Permit in any zone, only when not creating a traffic hazard or located within any visual setback area in the visibility clearance area. Because the exemption sits inside the general exempt-signs list, Subsection A also confirms these displays are not included in the determination of the type, number, or area of signs otherwise allowed on the parcel, though the Section requires exempted signs to still follow the regulations established for each sign type.

080(C)(1) exempt temporary lights used for holiday decorations from the Section's general shielding, downward-direction, and height rules that apply to permanent outdoor fixtures, meaning string lights and similar seasonal lighting do not need Architectural Review sign-off the way a permanent freestanding fixture would. Neither section imposes a display-window for how early decorations may go up or how long they may stay, nor a maximum size for a lawn or yard holiday display; the code's only textual limits are the traffic-hazard and visibility-clearance conditions on the sign exemption.

Visibility clearance areas are the corner and driveway sightline triangles the City protects for vehicle safety, and a holiday inflatable, lighted arch, or yard scene that blocks one loses its exemption and can be required to be relocated or removed.