Jefferson County, AL Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Article 14 of the Jefferson County Zoning Resolution (adopted August 27, 1992, amended through October 9, 2025) sets the countywide sign standards enforced by the Department of Development Services. Section 1403, 'General Sign Regulations Applying to All Areas,' opens by stating that in any zoning district certain signs 'shall be permitted without limitation,' and subsection (g) groups political signs with real-estate and builder/renovator signs: they must be non-illuminated and temporary, limited to a maximum of two signs per parcel, each no larger than four square feet, and may stay posted for 'not more than six (6) months, after which time they must meet the standards for permanent signs.' Because Section 1401.01 requires a sign permit countywide for anything 'subject to regulation by this Resolution' in the portions of the county where these built-in exemptions do not cover, a political sign that stays within the §1403.01(g) limits needs no separate permit or fee from the Department of Development Services.

Inside the U.S. Highway 280 Overlay District, the corridor's own sign article goes further: Section 1502.09(c), the Exempt Signs list for that corridor, names 'Political campaign signs on private property' as item 11, exempting them from the Highway Corridor's site-plan and sign-permit process outright, provided they create no safety hazard as determined by the governing authority. Property owners along the Highway 280 Corridor therefore answer to the corridor-specific exemption in §1502.09(c)(11), while political signs anywhere else in unincorporated Jefferson County are governed by the two-sign, four-square-foot, six-month limits of §1403.01(g).