San Luis Obispo County, CA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

20 (Signs) defines "Sign, Political" in Sec. 030 as a sign drawing attention to or communicating a position on any issue, candidate, or measure in a national, state, local, or school campus election. The chapter must be applied in a content-neutral manner consistent with First Amendment and Article 1 Section 2 free speech protections (Sec. B). Its message-substitution rule, Sec. C, allows a noncommercial message, including a political one, to replace any permitted commercial message, or another noncommercial message, without additional approval, permitting, registration, or notice to the County; it does not create a right to add more total signage or skip structure permitting.

Because political signs are not tied to a specific address or listed as a stand-alone "authorized sign," they run on the temporary-sign allowance in Sec. 1: 120 total days per year, 60 consecutive days per sign, removal within 14 days of the event or campaign ending, a 10-foot height cap, and setback compliance with the underlying land use category. Aggregate area is 32 square feet in Agriculture and Rural Lands, 4 square feet in the Residential categories, 24 square feet in Commercial/Industrial, and 16 square feet in Open Space, Recreation, and Public Facilities.

Sec. D separately protects a person holding a sign while picketing or protesting in a traditional public forum, so long as ingress, egress, and safe travel are not blocked.