Aliso Viejo, CA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

In the City of Aliso Viejo, California, Chapter 15.34 of the Aliso Viejo Municipal Code has no separate political sign category. No row in the temporary sign table (§ 15.34.140) or the exempt sign table (§ 15.34.150) covers candidate, ballot measure or issue signs. What the code prints instead is a substitution clause in § 15.34.160: any sign permitted under the chapter can display an ideological, political or other noncommercial message, so long as its height, length, character and total square footage stay within what the chapter allows for that sign. The message changes; the dimensions do not.

A political sign therefore inherits every placement rule of the sign type it rides on. Section 15.34.060(A) counts both commercial and noncommercial signs when calculating total number and square footage. Section 15.34.060(B) bars any person from erecting a sign on another person's property without the owner's express written approval, and requires removal promptly on request of the owner or occupant. Section 15.34.060(D) keeps freestanding signs out of public rights-of-way, at least five feet from a street right-of-way, and out of corner cutoff areas. Section 15.34.170(A) prohibits signs that encroach on public property or a public right-of-way (item 3), banners, flags and pennants unless the chapter permits them (item 13), balloons, kites and streamers (item 14), and portable and sandwich board signs including A-frames (item 22), which in no event can be visible from a public right-of-way.

Signs that need a permit go to the planning department under § 15.34.070 and are reviewed ministerially by the planning director, with appeals under § 15.70.080. The closest event-based row is Table 15.34.140 for special event signs on private property for nonprofit, noncommercial events: 2 per parcel, a total of 6 signs per event, 12 sq./ft. per sign, 6 ft. if freestanding, no illumination, posted no sooner than 30 days before the event and removed within 3 days after. Each sign must carry the name and telephone number or email address of the responsible person or organization.

A sign left in the public right-of-way can be removed by the director or a city code enforcement officer under § 15.34.040(C). The city holds it at City Hall for not less than three working days, and the owner retrieves it by paying a fee set by city council resolution. Unclaimed signs are destroyed or discarded.