Chapel Hill, NC Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Section 5.14.7(h) defines a wall sign to include signs affixed to or otherwise displayed on or through a building's window, so a business's window signage is regulated as wall signage rather than under its own separate category. The dimensional standards table attached to that subsection caps window signage at 15 percent of each window's area, and that percentage cap applies uniformly across every district grouping in the table, from the RT, R-, MH and PD-H districts to the Town Center, NC, CC, OI, MU-V and other nonresidential districts.

That 15 percent cap sits alongside the wall sign's other dimensional limits: a maximum 12-inch projection from the building facade and a 54-foot height ceiling in every district column shown. On the count side, the ordinance limits businesses to 1 wall sign per street frontage in the RT, R-, MH and PD-H districts, and to 3 wall signs per individual establishment per street frontage in every other district, but Sec. 5.14.7(h) expressly excludes window signage from that wall-sign count, so a business can carry window signs at up to 15 percent of window area on top of its full wall-sign allowance without either one reducing the other.

A window sign visible from outside that sits inside the building within 5 feet of the window is still counted as wall sign area under the same subsection.