Chicopee, MA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Chicopee has no separate political sign section. Its zoning definition of SIGNS, TEMPORARY in § 275-4 covers signs used for a limited period of display, and the examples it lists include signs pertaining to drives or events of political, civic, philanthropic, educational or religious organizations. Those signs are then regulated by § 275-50(B).

Size: a temporary sign may not exceed nine square feet total in a residential zone and may not exceed four feet by eight feet in a nonresidential zone. Height: no temporary sign may be more than eight feet from the ground when erected or posted. Number: not more than two of the same type of temporary sign advertising the same person, place or thing on any one piece of private property at any one time, and information cannot be continued from one sign to another to create the illusion of a larger sign. Lighting: no temporary sign is to have any artificial lights, including flashing lights, on any part of the sign or near it.

Placement is tightly limited. No temporary sign can be erected or posted on or over public property, which includes utility poles, boxes, other legal signs, trees, shrubs, and the roadway median or island. A sign in or over a public way needs permission from the Superintendent of Public Works. Signs cannot interfere with the corner view clearance in § 275-33 or obstruct visibility of an adjacent driveway. Signs on private property are the sole responsibility of the owner or lessee of that property.

Anyone placing signs must register the name, address and telephone number of a contact person with the Building Commissioner, and signs placed without contact information are in noncompliance. The former duration-of-placement limit in subsection B(1)(f) was repealed 2-6-2024 by Ord. No. 24-70, so the current text prints no time limit for temporary signs. Emergency signs and signs for road or bridge construction are excluded, and the Chicopee Police Department, Fire Department and Emergency Management personnel are exempt.