Vestavia Hills, AL Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

' Subsection 5 sets the coverage limit: the total area of window signs in a given window cannot exceed 33 percent of that window's area, calculated per window rather than across the whole building facade, so a business with several storefront windows must keep each pane under the cap individually rather than averaging coverage across all of them. The Ordinance also clarifies what a window sign is not: paper or similar material applied to the inside of the glass counts as a window sign, not a banner, which is defined and regulated separately as a flexible substrate display and carries its own rules elsewhere in Article 11.

That distinction matters because banners are typically treated as temporary signs subject to separate permitting and duration limits, while a properly-sized interior window sign needs no permit at all. The one condition that pulls a window sign back under other City rules is illumination: if the sign is lighted, it must comply with the requirements of the City Electrical Code, meaning an electrical permit and inspection even though the sign itself is exempt from the Zoning Ordinance's sign permit process. 3.