Clinton Township, MI Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Section 1488.02(r) defines a window sign as a lightweight sign made of material such as cardboard, cloth, paper, plastic, metal or wood, and sets two rules for it: window signs are limited in area to fifty percent of the total surface of the window they're posted in, and they must be located and contained wholly within a building so as to be visible from outside the building. A sign taped or mounted outside the glass, or covering more than half the pane, falls outside this definition.

Window signs get a meaningful break from the chapter's general permitting scheme: Section 1488.04(a) lists window signs among the categories, along with non-electric on-premises traffic signs, emergency-services identification signs, real estate signs and temporary signs, that don't require a Building Department permit before being posted. That exemption doesn't excuse a business from the fifty-percent area cap or the placement rule; both apply automatically regardless of permit status. Flashing or moving graphics remain banned under Section 1488.02(h) even inside a window display, and any window sign is still subject to the chapter's general purpose clause against traffic hazards under Section 1488.01. The Building Department, as the chapter's enforcing agency, can act on a complaint that a window display exceeds the area limit the same way it enforces any other sign standard in Chapter 1488.