Sign Regulations (No General Sign Permit; Historic District/Landmark Signs Require Commission and Board Approval) — Saguache, Colorado · Requirements sheet
Verified 2026-08-14 · Source: https://library.municode.com/co/saguache/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=CD_ORD_CH15LAUSRE
PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency. Requirements change and vary by project — confirm current details with the building department before you submit.
Sign Regulations (No General Sign Permit; Historic District/Landmark Signs Require Commission and Board Approval) in Saguache, Colorado
The Town of Saguache has no standalone, general-purpose sign permit application, fee, or approval process — nothing in the Town's entire codified Municipal Code establishes a sign-permit process, and the Town's own 'Application for Building Site Permit' has ten project-type checkboxes that do not include a 'Sign' option. Two narrow, real regulations exist instead: (1) Sec. 15-2-80 (Sidewalk Displays), Chapter 15 Land Use Regulations, sets townwide size/placement rules for sandwich-board signs and banners/pennants used in sidewalk commercial displays, with no associated permit or fee; and (2) within a Town-designated historic landmark, contributing structure, or historic district, Section VII (Signage) of the Town's currently-effective Historic Preservation ordinance (Ord. 2025-1, adopted 2025-05-12) requires any exterior sign (or exterior-visible interior sign, plus exterior lighting) to be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission and approved by the Town Board of Trustees — folded into the same historic-district process documented in the historic-district-landmark-alteration-certificate entry.
Verified 2026-08-14 · Source
When you need this permit
- No general townwide sign permit application, fee schedule, or approval process exists in Saguache — confirmed via a full-code Municode search for 'sign permit' (10 results, none a distinct permit product with an application/fee) and 'change of use', plus a direct read of Chapter 15 in full, and confirmed against the Town's Application for Building Site Permit, whose 10 project-type checkboxes (New Construction, Addition, Bridges/Walkways/Driveways, Roof Replacement, Fence or Deck, Demolition, Mobile Home, Single/Multi Unit Residence, Lot Level Change, Commercial) do not include 'Sign'
- Sec. 15-2-80 (Sidewalk Displays), Chapter 15 Land Use Regulations, Article 2: any commercial retail display on a sidewalk must permit adequate pedestrian use and must be taken in at the conclusion of business hours; the Board of Trustees may permit temporary seasonal displays to be kept on the sidewalk 24 hours a day for a specified time period; commercial displays are not permitted on the Town streets
- Sandwich board signs (defined as any sign of A-frame design, posted periodically to reflect commercial 'specials') are limited to no larger than three feet by four feet, per Sec. 15-2-80(1)
- Special pennants and banners (cloth or paper, announcing specials, products, special events, or 'Open' status) must be located so pedestrian/vehicular traffic is not impaired and vehicular vision is not compromised; banners for specific civic events (e.g. posted over a roadway) may be erected up to two weeks prior to the event and must be removed at its conclusion, per Sec. 15-2-80(2)
- Within a Town-designated historic landmark, contributing structure, or historic district, any and all exterior signs (and interior signage visible from the exterior, plus any exterior lighting) must be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission for a recommendation, with final approval by the Town Board of Trustees, considering permits, colors, textures/finish, materials, design, location, and size, per Ordinance 2025-1, Section VII (Signage)
- Repainting existing historic-district signage with the same color and lettering is exempted as normal maintenance and does not require Commission/Board review, per Ordinance 2025-1, Section VI
- GENUINE UNRESOLVED GAP (shared with the historic-district-landmark-alteration-certificate entry): no primary source confirms whether the Town Board has locally designated the full Downtown Historic District under the ordinance's own Section III designation procedure, as distinct from its separate 2014 federal/state National Register of Historic Places listing — confirm with the Town Clerk (719-655-2232) whether a specific property is currently subject to this sign-review requirement
Required documents
Check off what you have — your progress is saved on this device.
Fee schedule
No fee is published for sign review under either regime. Show full citationHide
No fee is published for sign review under either regime. Sec. 15-2-80 (Sidewalk Displays) states no fee for the general sandwich-board-sign/banner rules. The Historic Preservation ordinance's Signage section (Section VII) does not itself state a fee separate from the ordinance's general designation-nomination fee ($25.00, per the historic-district-landmark-alteration-certificate entry); no distinct Alteration-Certificate-application or sign-specific fee is published. Confirm with the Town Clerk (719-655-2232) or the Historic Preservation Commission.Review timeline
Inspection process
See the full Saguache inspection guide — scheduling & re-inspection fees →
Tips
- No general sign permit exists in Saguache — outside a designated historic district or landmark, only the narrow Sec. 15-2-80 size/placement rules apply (sandwich-board signs capped at 3' x 4'; banner/pennant placement and civic-event-banner timing rules), with no application or fee of any kind.
- Inside a designated historic landmark, contributing structure, or historic district (which includes the Town's historic commercial core), any sign requires Historic Preservation Commission review and Board of Trustees approval under Section VII of the historic preservation ordinance — this is layered on top of, not separate from, the Alteration Certificate process documented elsewhere for this jurisdiction.
- Confirm with the Town Clerk (719-655-2232) whether a specific property currently sits within a Town-designated historic district before assuming either regime applies — the Downtown Historic District's local designation status, as distinct from its 2014 federal/state National Register listing, is unconfirmed.
Frequently asked questions
Sources & verification
Verified against official sources. Last reviewed 2026-08-14.
Applications & forms
Codes & ordinances
Fees, timelines, and adopted codes are researched from each jurisdiction's published records — see how we verify. Requirements change and vary by project, so always confirm the current details with the Saguache building department before you submit. PermitBase is an independent reference and is not affiliated with any government agency.
Property Access
Saguache's permit history is searchable by address
46 permits in our copy of Saguache's register — searchable by street address, with permit type, status, issued date and valuation where the city publishes them. This is what we hold, not a statement of everything Saguache has issued.
All 46 are dated 2025, from 19 February to 20 October — this is that year to date, not Saguache's full permit history.
Other permits in Saguache
Sign Regulations (No General Sign Permit; Historic District/Landmark Signs Require Commission and Board Approval) in other cities
Look up this fee in a different city →
Now live
Build your Saguache project checklist
Describe your project once and get every permit, document, and fee it triggers in Saguache — in one checklist. Free, for any city and any number of projects.
Get started →