Smyrna, GA Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Section 82-3 of the Smyrna Code lists the signs that do not require sign permits. Item (2) covers seasonal displays and decorations located within the city, including but not limited to Halloween, July 4th, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Easter, so long as they do not contain commercial messages. The section then states that such displays and decorations are exempt from the limitations of the sign ordinance. Section 82-4(a) makes it unlawful to post, display or erect a sign without a permit except as excluded under Section 82-3, so a holiday display that fits item (2) needs no application, engineering drawings or fee.

The exemption has a duration gap worth knowing: Section 82-3(2) itself sets no number of days before or after a holiday and no removal date. The only clock in the chapter applies to commercial temporary signs. Under Section 82-16(2)c, temporary signage is limited to a period not exceeding 30 consecutive days, temporary sign permit periods are limited to four times within a calendar year, and grand opening displays are limited to 30 consecutive days. A holiday display that carries a commercial message falls outside the exemption and is treated under those rules instead.

The other exemptions in the same section show where the line sits. Government signs are exempt from the article, window signs cannot exceed 50 percent of the individual window pane, A-frame sandwich signs in downtown development districts 1 and 2 are limited to 25 square feet total, and yard sale signs and standard information signs on residentially zoned property are also exempt. Section 82-12(3) prohibits commercial signs in residential districts, which is why the no-commercial-message condition matters at a home.

Enforcement of the sign chapter falls to the community development department, its designee or a code enforcement officer under Section 82-17.