Elizabeth, NJ Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Chapter 17.48 regulates commercial district signage in Section 17.48.060(B). Subsection (B)(1)(b) allows display windows to carry the store name, description and/or logo inscribed directly on the glass, but restricts the method to gilt lettering, painted lettering, a professionally created decal, or stained or sandblasted glass, and caps the lettering at 25 percent of the total window area. The entry door gets the same treatment under Subsection (B)(1)(c): only the store name, description or logo by the same methods, plus a listing of business hours, and no other content.

Elizabeth treats permanent glass lettering differently from temporary signage. Section 17.48.090, the chapter's list of citywide prohibited signs, adds at Subsection (J), titled 'Temporary Signs on Glass,' that temporary signs may not be affixed to display-window or door glass at all, closing off paper or vinyl temporary signage as a workaround to the 25-percent lettering cap. Ground-floor storefronts are also limited under Section 17.48.060(B)(1)(a) to one business sign per facade (two for corner buildings, one per street frontage), while second-floor businesses, per the same subsection, are restricted to a single window sign and a taller maximum sign height of 22 feet instead of 14.

All signage, including window lettering, must also clear Section 17.48.030's permitting step through the city construction office, a $20.00 fee, and photo documentation of the storefront, and is subject to Section 17.48.050's citywide bar on indecent, libelous or sacrilegious content.