Whatcom County, WA Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

WCC § 20.80.470 lists sign types exempt from the zoning-permit process that otherwise governs signs under §§ 20.80.400 through 20.80.465. Subsection (3) sets the window-sign exemption businesses rely on most: a small window sign of up to three square feet in a business use doesn't need a sign permit, but the exemption has a coverage ceiling built in, those small signs cannot cover more than 25 percent of the area of any window they're placed in. A sign larger than three square feet, or window signage that pushes total coverage above the 25 percent threshold, falls outside the exemption and has to meet the permit and district sign standards in §§ 20.80.420 through 20.80.465 instead, which set separate size and height limits by zoning district (for example, 32 square feet for wall signs in the Neighborhood Commercial District, or 100 square feet in General Commercial).

The window-sign exemption sits alongside seven other exempt categories in § 20.80.470: address and name signs up to two square feet, temporary real estate signs up to 14 square feet (64 square feet on parcels over five acres), community identification signs up to 64 square feet spaced at least a mile apart, private directional signs up to 12 square feet, public agency directional signs, noncommercial temporary signs in the right-of-way, and small home-based-business signs up to eight square feet. All exempt signs must still meet the chapter's general provisions in § 20.80.410, including the ban on signs depicting specified sexual activities or anatomical areas.