Shoreline, WA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

SMC section 20.50.610 lists the sign types the City exempts from its permit process, on the condition, stated in the section's opening sentence, that every exempt sign still comply "with SMC section 20.50.540(A), Sight Distance, and SMC section 20.50.540(B), Private Signs on City Right-of-Way." Subsection R covers political signage: "Campaign signs that comply with size, location and duration limits provided in Shoreline Administrative Rules." Unlike the garage-sale exemption in subsection O, which prints its own four-square-foot, 48-hour limits directly in the Code, the campaign-sign exemption is conditional: a candidate or committee is exempt from permitting only if the sign also satisfies whatever size, location and duration limits the City has adopted by Administrative Rule, a companion document maintained by Planning and Community Development rather than printed inside the Municipal Code itself.

That structure lets the City adjust campaign-sign limits, such as how far ahead of an election a sign may go up or how soon after it must come down, without a Council ordinance amendment each cycle. The sight-distance and right-of-way conditions still apply regardless of the Administrative Rules: a campaign sign cannot be planted in a City right-of-way median, in a clear-view triangle, or in a location where it blocks visibility for drivers, cyclists or pedestrians under SMC section 20.50.540(A) and (B), the same baseline that every other exempt sign, including garage-sale and real estate signs, must meet.