Greece, NY Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Town Code § 211-5 defines SIGN, WINDOW as a sign which is placed on or is viewed through a window which faces out from a building, distinguishing it from a building-mounted sign, which the same section defines as one affixed to a building other than a window. That distinction matters under § 211-55D, which governs advertising signs, signs not located on the same premises as what they promote. Ordinarily, an advertising sign in Greece needs a special permit from the Board of Zoning Appeals under § 211-65A.

Section 211-55D exempts from that special-permit requirement any window sign that advises the public of an off-site event or of a change in the location of a former occupant of the structure where the window sign is placed. Outside that narrow exemption, an ordinary business's window sign identifying its own products or services is not classified as an advertising sign in the first place, since it is on the same premises as the business it promotes, so it falls under the general sign-permit rule in § 211-55A rather than the advertising-sign special-permit track.

Section 211-55A requires a Building Inspector permit for any sign not otherwise specifically exempted, and any change, enlargement or reconstruction of a permitted sign needs a new permit. The code does not set a specific percentage-of-window-area coverage cap for window signs in the sections addressing signs generally; the operative window-sign rule that is grounded in the text is this narrow exemption from the advertising-sign special permit.