Kenosha, WI Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Chapter XV of the Code of General Ordinances defines a window sign as "any Sign that is placed inside a window or upon the window panes or glass and is intended to be visible from the exterior of the building" (Section 15.02, Definitions). Unlike wall signs, which Table 1 caps at 15% of total wall area, and freestanding signs, which carry square-footage and height limits under Section 15.06, window signs carry no numeric area cap in Table 1: the table simply lists them as permitted or not permitted by zoning district.

They are allowed outright in the B-1, B-2 and B-3 business districts, the IP Institutional Park district, and the M-1 and M-2 manufacturing districts, but flatly prohibited in every residential district (RG, RS, RD, RR and RM). Section 15.03 makes it unlawful to "erect, place, replace, move, establish, originally paint, construct, install, convert, substantially alter, rebuild, enlarge, remodel, relocate, illuminate, or maintain" any sign contrary to the Ordinance, and Section 15.04 routes all permitted-use questions to Table 1. Because window signs are commonly non-permanent, a business swapping paper posters in its storefront glass in a business district needs no Sign Permit under the general exemption in Section 15.07.B for signs that are not permanent, but a homeowner in an RS or RG district cannot display a comparable sign in a residential window under this chapter.

Violations fall under the sign code's general penalty in Section 15.18: a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) plus costs of prosecution, with commitment to the Kenosha County Jail for up to ninety days on default, and each day a violation continues is a separate offense. The Administrator in the Department of City Inspections enforces the chapter and can order removal of any nonconforming sign.