Bartow County, GA Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Article XI's Sign Ordinance defines a sign broadly in Sec. 3 to include any display located on the exterior of a building or anywhere on a lot, explicitly naming windows among the surfaces the definition covers. Sec. 2(B) sets the residential-district rule: in A-1, RE-1, RE-2 and every R-series district (R-1 through R-8), only one window sign per dwelling is allowed, capped at 8 square feet in area, with wall signs barred outright in those districts under Sec. 2(C). Commercial and institutional districts use a percentage test instead of a flat area cap: Sec.

3(B) limits window signage in the C-1, C-N and O/I districts to 25 percent of the area of windows facing road frontage, and the same 25-percent test applies to planned centers under Sec. 4(B), to the M-1, I-1 and I-2 industrial districts under Sec. 6(B), and to the Business Park District under Sec. 2. Sec. 1 requires sign-review approval from the Zoning Administrator before a building permit issues for any sign, with the application specifying the sign's location, dimensions and square footage, and illuminated window signs using electrical wiring may separately need a building and electrical permit.

Sec. 2 lets the County take legal action to remove signs erected in violation of the ordinance, and failing to obtain the required permit is itself a violation.