Boulder, CO Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 9-9-21(d)(9) exempts a noncommercial sign, 'including, without limitation, a work of art or a political sign,' in every residential zoning district from the sign code's total area and setback limitations and from the wind-sign prohibition, so long as it does not impede traffic safety. Outside twenty-five feet of a public sidewalk, or thirty feet of a curb where there is no sidewalk, a noncommercial or political sign in a residential zone has no size, number or setback limit at all. Inside that twenty-five-foot band the standard rule allows only one sign, capped at seven feet in height and thirty-two square feet in total area, with no single face larger than sixteen square feet.

Subparagraph (d)(9)(B) relaxes that one-sign cap specifically for elections: from the moment a candidate is nominated for office, or nominated or certified for a primary, or a recall election date is set, or a ballot measure is placed on the ballot, or one month before a caucus, and running through the day after the election, the setback area can hold more than the usual one sign. Any additional signs placed in the setback during that window are capped at twelve square feet each, with no face larger than six square feet. The same exemption covers noncommercial signs in nonresidential zones under subsection (d)(8), though a wall sign of more than nine square feet there requires thirty days' advance notice to the city manager before it goes up.