Hawaii County, HI Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Section 3-11 governs signs permitted, with a permit, in the county's commercial and industrial districts (RCX, V, CN, CG, CV, MCX, ML, MG), which cover the built-up cores of Hilo and Kailua-Kona along with other commercial nodes. Subsection (7), "Window signs and painted window signs," sets the operative limit for any business: the total area covered by one or more window signs facing any street cannot exceed twenty-five percent of the combined window area on that frontage, or one hundred fifty square feet, whichever produces the smaller number.

That means a storefront with a large glass frontage is capped at 150 square feet even where 25 percent of its glass would allow more, while a small storefront is held to the percentage figure. This sits alongside the chapter's separate exemption for temporary painted window signs at Section 3-8(a)(1)(E), which allows a temporary painted window sign to go up without a permit for a period not exceeding thirty days, distinct from the permanent coverage cap in Section 3-11(7). Residential districts (RS, RD, RM) are governed instead by Section 3-10, which caps any single sign, window or otherwise, at six square feet, so the 25 percent/150-square-foot window rule is specific to commercial and industrial zoning and does not apply to a home-based storefront in a residential district.

A permit under Section 3-13 is required before installing a qualifying window sign, and illuminated window signs additionally route through the electrical inspector under Section 3-15.