North Hempstead, NY Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Section 70-196J lists the signs permitted only in business or industrial districts, and item (4) covers window signs on their own terms, limiting the total area of all such window signs located in a window to no more than one-third of the total area of that window. The code defines a window sign broadly: any material temporarily or permanently attached or affixed to the interior or exterior surface of a display window, used for advertisements, announcements, notices, directional matters, or company or trade names related to the business, products or services on the premises.

That covers everything from a paper sale poster taped inside the glass to a vinyl decal applied to the outside. The one-third cap is measured against the whole window, not a display area within it, so multiple smaller signs in the same window all count toward the same limit. The provision was added by Local Law No. 13-1980 alongside the article's tower-sign and shopping-center-uniformity rules, and it stands apart from every other sign in § 70-196 in one respect: the subsection's last sentence states plainly that window signs shall not require permits as otherwise provided herein, so a merchant can swap out window displays without applying to the Building Department each time, as long as the coverage stays under a third of the glass.