Bellingham, WA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Bellingham's sign regulations are codified in BMC Chapter 20.12 (General Standards) of Title 20 — Land Use Development. BMC 20.12.040 governs signs in residential zones and limits each residential street frontage to one unlighted temporary sign not to exceed six square feet — this is the size envelope that applies to non-commercial messages, including political/election signs, on residential property. Signs must be placed on private property with the property owner's permission. Bellingham does not permit free-standing political signs in the public right-of-way; signs placed in the planting strip between the sidewalk and the curb, on city-owned property, on utility poles, traffic-control devices, or street trees are subject to removal by the City. The City of Bellingham issued a July 25, 2019 administrative memorandum specifically addressing political-sign complaints, directing the public to call Code Compliance for signs in the public right-of-way and to call the property owner for signs on private property. Washington has no state-wide political-sign preemption statute (unlike Colorado or Arizona), so the BMC 20.12 size and placement limits govern. Reed v. Town of Gilbert (135 S. Ct. 2218, 2015) bars content-based discrimination: any duration limit Bellingham imposes (e.g., 30 days before / 7 days after an election) would have to be content-neutral and applied to all temporary signs of the same physical character. Sign violations are enforced through the Neighborhood Code Compliance division under BMC Title 10.