What is allowed in the South Lake Tahoe sign ordinance?

When South Lake Tahoe became a city in 1965 there will freeway sized billboards in the community along Pioneer Trail and Highway 50. Since then, code has been written, and re-written over the years, all meant to improve the visual quality of South Lake Tahoe.

The City Code details all requirements about the type, placement, and scale of signs within different land use categories.

In their "Fix Up 50" campaign, the City of South Lake Tahoe has had staff focusing attention on excessive and unpermitted signage which brought about the request for Tahoe Trout Farm to remove their off-site sign.

Most signs in the City require a permit with specific limitations on sign size and design. Businesses who already have a permitted sign didn't have to do anything in the current campaign as their focus is on businesses with unpermitted signs.

Examples of unpermitted signs typically include signs added to the sides of buildings, sandwich boards displayed during times when they are not allowed, temporary signs, and various miscellaneous signs on buildings may not be permitted.

Real Estate agents are allowed to put up temporary 'Open House' signs off-site as this is in the ordinance. The temporary signs are limited to size, number, and location.

Sandwich board style signs are allowed in the city on weekends from Friday Night through Sunday night.

Businesses are allowed some sort of signage when the road in front of their location is under construction. They can say something like “Open During Construction.”

The current code allows for businesses to apply for "Locally Unique" classification should they feel their sign should be allowed even if it isn't up to regular code. An example of this is the root beer mug shaped sign on Highway 89.

The City Council will be soon looking at the historical value of non-conforming signs and perhaps adding a new part to the code that allows these with strict criteria.