Lynnwood, WA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

0870(E) exempts political campaign signs, whether about candidates or issues, from the sign permit requirement, but that exemption does not excuse the owner from erecting and maintaining the sign in compliance with the rest of the code. Signs larger than four square feet and up to 32 square feet per side may be placed anywhere in Lynnwood except within the public right-of-way or on city-owned property. Smaller signs, four square feet or less per side, are allowed along the edge of the public right-of-way, but they cannot be located on or overhang pavement, street medians, sidewalks, or any area used by pedestrians, cyclists, drivers or parked vehicles, and none of these small signs may go on city park property or in the right-of-way adjacent to a park.

Removal deadlines are strict: the sign owner and the property owner are jointly responsible for taking election-related signs down within seven days after the election, and if a primary election feeds into a general election, the seven-day clock runs from the general election instead. Signs carrying a political message unrelated to a specific election, such as an ongoing issue advocacy sign, can stay up until the issue itself is resolved. Because the right-of-way carve-out only covers small signs and never covers park property or street medians, an oversized sign or a small sign placed in a prohibited right-of-way location is out of compliance even though no permit was ever required to put it up.