City of Kentwood Lifts Temporary Sign Enforcement Moratorium

The City of Kentwood has lifted the temporary sign enforcement moratorium enacted in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. City staff have resumed notification and sign enforcement efforts.  

All regular ordinances regarding temporary signage are now back in place. This means:

• A temporary portable sign permit must be secured before the sign can be displayed.
• All temporary portable sign applications must include a $60 payment. 
• The maximum allowable size of a temporary portable sign is 32 square feet in area.
• In office, commercial retail and regional commercial zone districts:
  • Sign permits for up to 50 days can be displayed in a calendar year for a given property.
  • All temporary portable sign permit applications for multitenant buildings must include written authorization from the building owner or designated representative for the time specified on the application. The written authorization must include the phone number of the building owner or designated representative and can be mailed, faxed, emailed or submitted in person.
  • The number of display dates for any such temporary portable sign permit will be limited to 10 days and is not required to run on consecutive days.
  • Only one temporary portable sign can be displayed on a property at any given time.
  • The building owner or designated representative may authorize up to three 10-day permits to a given tenant to the extent that no more than 50 days are authorized within the calendar year for a given property.
• In the residential, open space and industrial zone districts:
  • Temporary portable sign permits are allowed for up to 30 days in a calendar year.
• Electronic displays
  • May cover on up to 60% of a wall or freestanding sign.
  • The minimum interval between message/image changes is 1 minute, except for the C-3 Regional Commercial zone district, where the minimum interval is 30 seconds.
  • Each separate message must be static with no appearance of having moving parts or moving messages.
    • The message cannot appear to flash, undulate, pulse, portray explosions, fireworks, lighting appearing to flash or blink, appear to move forward or away from the viewer, expand or contract, bounce rotate, spin, twist or other comparable movements.

Any questions or comments about temporary signage requirements in the City of Kentwood should be directed to the Planning Office at ePlanning@kentwood.us or 616.554.0707.