Birmingham, AL Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 9, Subsection 3 of the zoning ordinance (Appendix D, Article VI) opens with a blanket rule that unless exempted or prohibited as provided in the section, all signs shall require permits. Item 2 of that subsection then lists the exemptions, and political signs are one of the eight categories named, appearing simply as political signs, alongside bulletin boards for religious or charitable institutions, construction signs, flags, and window signs. Because the ordinance grants the exemption without conditioning it on size, timing, or number, a political sign of any dimension is not required to carry a permit or the decal the Department of Planning, Engineering and Permits issues with permitted signs.

Exemption from the permit requirement is not exemption from the ordinance's other controls, however. Subsection 3, Item 3 separately prohibits several placements and formats that apply to every sign regardless of permit status, including signs attached to trees, utility poles, streetlight, or placed on any public property except as authorized by ordinance of the city council, signs that resemble official traffic control devices, and signs that are structurally unsafe or in substantial disrepair. The general requirements in Subsection 5 add that no sign may obstruct a driver's view of approaching or intersecting traffic.

A political sign zip-tied to a utility pole, planted in a street median, or blocking a stop sign's sightline is therefore not protected by the political-sign exemption; the exemption only removes the permit-and-decal paperwork, not the placement and safety limits that bind every sign in the city.