The Gwinnett County sign ordinance regulates every outdoor sign in the county by size, height, placement, illumination, and materials, and most signs beyond small residential or window displays require a permit from the Department of Planning and Development before they go up. Permit fees run from $50 for a temporary sign to $500 for an oversized one, and installing a sign without a permit doubles the fee. Enforcement is active, and fines reach $1,000 per violation.
Signs That Are Never Allowed
Some signs are prohibited everywhere in the county regardless of zoning. Roof signs, portable signs (trailer signs, sandwich boards, A-frames, sidewalk signs), streamers, and multi-faced signs are banned outright. So are LED and animated signs that blink, flash, rotate, or vary in light intensity.1Gwinnett County. Sign Violations
You also cannot post any sign that mimics a traffic control device, emits noise, blocks road visibility, obstructs traffic flow, or blocks a fire escape. Signs cannot be attached to trees, rocks, utility poles, street signs, or any other public structure, and you cannot place a sign on someone else’s property without the owner’s permission.1Gwinnett County. Sign Violations
Two more categories get swept into the prohibited list. A commercial sign is considered abandoned once the business it advertised has been closed for 90 or more days. Dilapidated signs with rust, holes, broken parts, faded paint, or missing letters also violate the ordinance and can be ordered down.
When You Need a Permit and When You Don’t
Most permanent signs, and any sign tied to a business, need a permit from the Department of Planning and Development. Several categories are exempt from the application process but still have to follow placement and safety rules.
Exempt signs include non-illuminated temporary freestanding signs in residential areas within the size limits below, official government signs for traffic control or public safety, small window signs covering a minor portion of the glass, and political and real estate signs within the exempt temporary size limits. Exempt signs cannot be placed in any public right-of-way or on public property. Real estate signs should come down promptly once the property sells or the listing expires.2Gwinnett County. Signs in Residential Districts
Even an exempt sign is still subject to the prohibited-sign rules. A yard sign that ends up stapled to a utility pole, blocks a driver’s sightline, or flashes is illegal no matter how small it is or what it says.1Gwinnett County. Sign Violations
Size, Height, and Placement by Zone
What you can put up depends heavily on whether the property is residential or commercial.
Residential Property
Permanent subdivision entrance signs can be up to 32 square feet and 8 feet tall, with an additional 2-foot decorative embellishment on top. Subdivision directional signs max out at 24 square feet (4 square feet per subdivision, up to four subdivisions per sign) with the same 8-foot height limit.2Gwinnett County. Signs in Residential Districts
On an individual residential lot, exempt temporary signs are limited to either one sign of up to 16 square feet or up to four signs of no more than 4 square feet each. Height cannot exceed 8 feet above street grade or 3 feet above ground level, whichever is greater. Temporary banners are allowed one per lot per road frontage, no larger than 16 square feet, and only for 21 calendar days every three months. Banners require a temporary sign permit. Flags can be up to 30 square feet each, and flagpoles cannot exceed 25 feet or the height of the primary building, whichever is shorter.2Gwinnett County. Signs in Residential Districts
Commercial Property
Commercial sign size scales with the building’s gross floor area:
- Under 10,000 square feet: ground sign up to 75 square feet
- 10,001 to 50,000 square feet: up to 100 square feet
- 50,001 to 100,000 square feet: up to 150 square feet
- Over 100,000 square feet: up to 200 square feet
No sign can sit closer than 10 feet to the back of curb on a public road. Freestanding signs are limited to one structure per road frontage. If a property has more than one frontage, up to 50 percent of the allowable sign area from one frontage can be shifted to the other, which helps corner lots concentrate visibility where it counts.
Illumination cannot create glare affecting neighboring properties or road visibility. Every installation has to meet building code structural requirements, including wind load calculations.
How to Apply and What It Costs
Applications go through the Gwinnett County Department of Planning and Development, either online through the county’s permitting portal or in person at the Planning and Development office.3Gwinnett County. Gwinnett County Zoning, Inspections, and Permitting Portal
For a wall sign, you’ll submit a completed application form signed by the property owner or an authorized agent (tenants need a separate authorization letter from the owner), three copies of sign detail drawings showing complete dimensions, square footage, and which building elevation the sign will attach to, documentation of gross floor area such as an approved floor plan or lease showing leased square footage, the permit fee, and, if you’re replacing an existing sign, an affidavit confirming the old sign’s removal.4Gwinnett County. Wall Sign Permit Application Package
Ground sign and temporary sign applications follow a similar structure with variations in the required drawings. For wall signs, expect a decision within 3 to 5 business days: either an approval or a written denial explaining what needs to change.4Gwinnett County. Wall Sign Permit Application Package
Fees are flat per sign:
- Wall or ground sign: $150
- Temporary sign: $50
- Oversized sign: $500
- Sign permit renewal: $125
Install first, and the fee doubles. The penalty for construction or installation before permit issuance is 100 percent of the standard permit fee on top of the original cost.5Gwinnett County. Gwinnett County Planning and Development Fee Schedule
What Happens If You Violate the Ordinance
Gwinnett County code enforcement officers actively look for sign violations. Signs in the public right-of-way, signs on trees or utility poles, and signs placed without the owner’s permission are among the most commonly cited problems. When officers find a violation, the county issues a written notice with a deadline to correct the issue or remove the sign. For maintenance-related violations like dilapidated signs, the standard notice period is 10 days.6Gwinnett County. Code Enforcement
Miss the deadline and the county can issue a citation to appear in Recorder’s Court, which has jurisdiction over county ordinance violations and can impose fines of up to $1,000 and up to 60 days of imprisonment per violation.6Gwinnett County. Code Enforcement7Gwinnett County. Recorders Court
For dangerous or severely dilapidated signs, the county can remove them at the owner’s expense if the owner fails to act after notice. The county regularly removes signs from rights-of-way and bills the responsible party.
Already Have a Sign That Doesn’t Meet Current Rules?
If your sign was legal when it went up but no longer meets the current ordinance, it qualifies as a nonconforming sign. You can keep it, but you cannot enlarge, alter, or rebuild it. Routine maintenance and changing the advertising message are allowed, as long as you don’t change the sign’s shape, size, or design in the process.
If a nonconforming sign is damaged or deteriorates, you can repair it enough to keep it safe and presentable, but you cannot replace a nonconforming sign with another nonconforming one. Once it comes down, whatever goes back up has to meet the current rules. This matters if you’re buying a commercial property with older signage: that grandfathered status does not survive a replacement.
Content Neutrality and ADA: Two Things the Ordinance Doesn’t Reach
The county ordinance regulates signs by size, height, location, illumination, and materials, not by what they say. Your political yard sign and your neighbor’s “for sale” sign follow the same size and placement rules. Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, any sign regulation that treats different types of speech differently based on content faces strict scrutiny, and most post-Reed codes, including Gwinnett’s, avoid content-based distinctions for that reason.8Justia Law. Reed v Town of Gilbert, 576 US 155 (2015)
Federal ADA rules apply on top of the county ordinance for commercial buildings, but they target interior wayfinding, not advertising. Signs identifying permanent rooms, restrooms, exits, and exit stairways must include tactile characters and Grade 2 braille, mounted 48 to 60 inches above the floor on the latch side of the door.9U.S. Access Board. ADA Accessibility Standards10U.S. Access Board. Chapter 7 – Signs Exterior business identification signs and advertising are not usually covered, but if your building permit triggers an accessibility review, interior signage has to be compliant before you’ll get a certificate of occupancy.