Pacifica, CA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 9-4.2906(k) is the City's dedicated political-sign standard, sitting inside the broader sign-standards article that Section 9-4.2904(m) cross-references as an exemption from ordinary sign-permit review. A political sign cannot be placed on another person's property without that owner's or tenant's consent, cannot obstruct the view of vehicular or pedestrian traffic or any traffic control device, and cannot be erected earlier than sixty days before the election it relates to. Each sign face is capped at thirty-two square feet. Any political campaign committee or candidate that puts up signs in the City must register a named responsible person with the Building Official, using a form that states the person's name and address and accepts responsibility for the signs' placement and maintenance.

Removal is mandatory, not optional: every political sign must come down no later than the tenth day after the election it relates to, and a sign for a candidate who won a primary cannot stay up for the general election unless the general is at least 100 days after the primary. A sign left up past that window, or posted without the required consent, is deemed a public nuisance that the Building Official can remove and store; if the responsible person or owner does not retrieve it within ten days of removal, the City treats it as abandoned and disposes of it. Before removing a noncompliant sign the Building Official must first give the responsible party and property owner five days' written notice, except where the sign is an imminent peril to persons or property, in which case it can be summarily removed. Costs of removal, storage, and disposal fall on the property owner, the responsible person, and whoever placed the sign.