Fountain Valley, CA Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Fountain Valley Municipal Code § 21.24.080(f), adopted by the Fountain Valley City Council as part of the citywide sign chapter, allows temporary advertising and promotional signs and graphics painted on a window or securely attached to a window in commercial and industrial zones. The cap is 30% of each window area, counted window by window, not across the whole storefront. Placement is limited to the upper two thirds of the window area. Window signs must be permanently painted or mounted on the inside of windows and doors, and they are allowed only on windows on the ground floor of a building frontage. Illuminated, neon and LED signs are prohibited outright in a window.

The code defines a window sign in § 21.24.060 as a sign painted or installed on a glass window or door, or located within three feet from inside the window in a manner that it can be viewed from the exterior of a structure. A poster set two feet behind the glass therefore counts toward the 30%.

Under § 21.24.100(f), window signs are exempt from the sign permit requirement, so a Fountain Valley business does not file a permit application for a compliant window display. The same section states that exempt signs are still subject to all other legal requirements of the code and that, unless otherwise stated, they do not reduce the total area of sign display otherwise applicable. Related rules still bite: § 21.24.110(14) bars paper, cloth or similar lightweight signs on the exterior of a building, except signs located inside a building as part of a window sign that meets the chapter, and § 21.24.110(11) bans exposed neon, exposed LED or similar illuminated signs. Under § 21.24.070(b), a sign that is not primarily in English must also show the business name or type of business and the street address in English to help emergency response.