Pacifica, CA Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Section 9-4.2906(c) governs window signs specifically, layering a coverage cap on top of the general sign-area formula in subsection (a)(3): a business's total sign allowance is three-quarters of a square foot of signage for every linear foot of street frontage, plus an extra half square foot per linear foot for permanent window signage. Whatever a business's total allowance works out to, its window signs can never cover more than twenty-five percent of the total area of all the glazed vertical surfaces on the business, a hard ceiling independent of the underlying frontage formula.

The same twenty-five percent ceiling reappears in Section 9-4.2906(f) for temporary window signs advertising a sale or promotion, which are limited to the interior side of the glass, must come down within thirty days of installation, and may not be posted on walls, posts, roofs, or awnings, though they can be painted directly on the exterior of the glass. A window sign is defined in Section 9-4.2902(bd) as one attached, applied, or suspended parallel to a window with the primary intention of being viewed from outside such window, and merchandise displayed for sale in the window does not itself count as a sign. A sign permit from the Planning Administrator is required for permanent window signage exceeding the exempt categories in Section 9-4.2904, and enforcement of an oversized window display runs through the same notice-and-removal process, and infraction penalty under Section 1-2.01, that applies to every other sign violation in the article.