Norfolk, VA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 42-10(b) sets the baseline: it is unlawful to affix, place, erect, maintain, post or attach any sign, banner, poster or similar object in or on a right-of-way, street, alley or city land without authorization of the city council, unless another law or ordinance separately authorizes it. Section 42-10(e) then defines who is allowed to enforce that rule. It gives the director of public works or designee, any law enforcement officer, a designated special police officer, and the fire marshal and assistant fire marshal the authority to enforce the section generally.

It goes further and authorizes the director to train and designate ordinary citizens to remove unauthorized signs, placards or notices left in the right-of-way or on city property, but expressly carves political signs, civic league signs, and real estate signs out of that citizen-removal authority. In practice, that means a political yard sign placed in the public right-of-way without authorization is not treated the same as a random flyer or sale sign: it can only be removed by city staff, police, the fire marshal, or another law-enforcement official acting under formal authority, not by a trained volunteer acting under the streamlined removal program.

The carve-out reflects the added First Amendment sensitivity of political speech compared with ordinary commercial clutter, even though the underlying placement restriction in subsection (b) still applies to all sign types alike.