Redwood City, CA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)
Key Facts
- Display window
- 90 days before to 10 days after election
- Max size
- 6 square feet, 8 feet tall
- Allowed locations
- Planter strips, intersection corners on City land
- Permit needed
- None, during the election window
- Barred at
- City Hall, City buildings, street medians
- Private property boost
- Residential cap rises to 15 sq ft
Summary
Redwood City gives noncommercial and political signs extra room around elections. City Code Section 3.151 lets temporary noncommercial signs go up on specified public land from 90 days before to 10 days after any election, capped at six square feet and eight feet in height.
In addition to the signs allowed under other Divisions of this Article, within the time period commencing ninety (90) calendar days before and ending ten (10) calendar days after any special, primary or general election, temporary signs displaying noncommercial message(s) may be displayed in the locations specified following, subject to the rules stated in this Division. Individual signs may not exceed six (6) square feet in display area or eight feet (8′) in height. Only one sign bearing a particular image or message may be displayed in any one permissible area. No sign may be mounted in such a manner as to obscure the view of another sign previously mounted in the same permissible area. No sign may be mounted so as to obscure the view within the visibility triangle. Such signs are not permitted in the street median.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Zoning Code: Supplement 29 | City Code: Supplement 61 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
151 carves out a time-limited exception specifically tied to elections. Starting ninety calendar days before and ending ten calendar days after any special, primary, or general election, temporary signs carrying a noncommercial message, campaign signs among them, may be displayed without a permit on two categories of public land: the planter strip next to City-owned sidewalks, and City-owned land near street intersections that is out of the traffic lanes and not used for vehicle or pedestrian travel. Each sign is capped at six square feet in display area and eight feet in height, only one sign per particular image or message may go in any single permissible spot, and no sign may block the view of another sign already there or intrude into a visibility triangle.
The exception does not reach City Hall, the area around it, or any City-owned or leased building where employees routinely work, nor does it authorize placement in a street median. 151 is responsible for taking it down once the window closes, and a sign left up past the ten-day post-election deadline, or one that otherwise breaks these rules, may be summarily removed by the City. 84 offers a parallel bump, raising the normal ten-square-foot single-family sign allowance to fifteen square feet during that same ninety-day-before to ten-day-after election window.
Violations & Fines
A noncommercial or political sign on public land that exceeds six square feet or eight feet in height, sits outside the planter-strip or intersection-corner locations Section 3.151 allows, or remains up more than ten days after the election, loses its exemption and may be summarily removed by the City under Section 3.151(E). Signs placed at City Hall or in a street median are barred outright.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put up political yard or street signs before an election in Redwood City?
Where exactly can election signs go on public property?
What happens to political signs left up after the election?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Redwood City
California rules heatmap·Compare Redwood City to another location·View the California sign regulations overview
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Political Signs in Nearby Cities
How other cities in San Mateo County handle political signs.