Sign Company in Georgetown, TX

Signs around the Square: working in Georgetown's historic overlays

Georgetown's downtown centers on the Square and the Williamson County Courthouse, which was completed in 1911. The city describes three National Register historic districts with more than 180 historic buildings and homes. In 2025, Georgetown was the first city to receive the Best Texas Downtown award.

That history shapes the sign rules. Downtown sits in the Downtown Overlay District, and nearby blocks fall in the Old Town Overlay. In both overlays, a sign needs a Certificate of Appropriateness as well as a sign permit.

A Certificate of Appropriateness is a design approval. The Historic Preservation Officer can issue some of them as staff decisions. Others go to the Historic and Architectural Review Commission, which meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. Reviews check each project against the city's Historic District Design Guidelines. Chapter 5 of those guidelines covers signs and colors.

The size limits in the overlays are tight. Monument signs can be no more than 5 feet tall, and pole signs are not allowed. Across the whole city, wall signs cannot stick out more than 8 inches from the building, and they must sit parallel to the wall.

For a storefront on or near the Square, we design a sign that fits the building's proportions and historic materials. We prepare the drawings the review needs, including how the sign attaches to the building. If the storefront also needs an awning, we build commercial awnings in-house. On a historic building, an exterior change like an awning can also need a Certificate of Appropriateness, so we plan for that review too.

What can you build along I-35, SH 130, and SH 195?

Georgetown gives highway properties much more room than the rest of the city. The sign code treats frontage on Interstate 35, State Highway 130, and State Highway 195 as its own category.

On those highways, a standard monument sign can be up to 8 feet tall and 60 square feet. You can have one for every 200 feet of frontage. A high-profile monument sign can reach 28 feet and 225 square feet. You get one for every 600 feet of frontage, and on I-35 they must be at least 400 feet apart.

Pole signs are more limited. Georgetown allows them only on properties with I-35 frontage that are zoned C-1, C-3, BP, or IN. The height limit is 28 feet, with up to 225 square feet of sign area. The code can allow extra height when a property sits below the level of I-35. The city measures the elevation difference between the sign location and the highway to set that allowance.

Away from the highways, the numbers shrink. On Williams Drive (FM 2338), a monument sign is capped at 5 feet and 48 square feet. In the main commercial districts, a monument can be 6 feet tall. Low-profile pole signs in those districts need a landscaped bed at the base, twice the size of one sign face.

Georgetown has grown fast. It counted 67,176 residents at the 2020 census, and the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate is 101,344. Wolf Ranch Town Center, an open-air shopping center, sits right at I-35 and University Avenue.

We measure your frontage and check your zoning before we design, so the sign we propose fits what the code allows.

Georgetown sign permits: the code, the review, and contractor registration

Georgetown regulates signs through Chapter 10, Sign Standards, of its Unified Development Code. The rules apply inside the city limits and in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. Sign permits run through the city's Development Services permit team, and applications are filed online through My Government Online.

The city says plan review for a permanent sign takes 14 to 25 business days. That clock starts once the application is accepted and the fee is paid. Signs in the Downtown and Old Town overlays also need a Certificate of Appropriateness. We build both reviews into your schedule from the start.

Georgetown requires sign contractors to register with the city. Its registration list names sign contractors, electrical sign contractors, and journeyman sign contractors. Registration is free and is done through My Government Online, with copies of a driver's license and trade license.

The code also sets lighting limits. An illuminated sign of 150 square feet or less cannot exceed 300 foot-candles of luminance. No bare light source can be visible from the edge of the right-of-way at a height of three feet. Unshielded neon, billboards, and moving or flashing signs are prohibited. So are roof signs that rise above the code's height limits.

Any sign type not listed in the code's tables is prohibited. That makes it important to match your sign to the right category before design begins.

HSC checks the Georgetown rules for your property before we design. We then prepare the permit package, including the drawings, the site details, and the structural and electrical details the sign needs. The city decides whether to approve each permit, and we respond to any review comments.

Does your Georgetown center need a Master Sign Plan?

If your building has more than one tenant, the answer is probably yes. Georgetown requires a Master Sign Plan for all multi-tenant buildings and planned unit developments. It also requires one for multi-building or multi-occupant commercial developments. The plan must be approved before any signs go up on the property. After that, every owner, tenant, and buyer in the development must follow it.

A Master Sign Plan sets consistent sign rules for the whole property. In a historic overlay, the Building Official or the Historic Preservation Officer decides on the plan. There, the plan must meet the code's size and location limits and fit the Historic District Design Guidelines.

When a Master Sign Plan is not practical for a site, the code offers another path. An owner can ask for an Alternative Sign Plan. The Building Official reviews it through the city's administrative exception process.

For property owners and developers, a clear plan helps every future tenant order a sign that fits. For tenants, the plan tells you what your storefront sign can look like before you commit to a design.

HSC can help on either side. For owners, we can help prepare a sign plan and design a monument or multi-tenant sign that matches it. For tenants, we read the existing plan and design channel letters that fit within it. We also replace tenant panels on existing multi-tenant signs. When an older center sign has faded faces, failed lighting, or worn paint, we can refurbish it rather than replace the whole structure.

From first call to installed sign in Georgetown

Every HSC project follows the same steps, and nothing gets designed before we see the site.

We start with a phone call. We learn about your business and your property, and we confirm the project is a good fit. We also check your zoning, your road frontage, and whether the property sits in a historic overlay.

Next, our Austin-area staff visit for an on-site survey. We take exact measurements, check setbacks, and look at power for lighted signs. In Georgetown, setbacks apply to every part of a sign, including its pole and foundation.

After the survey, we deliver a free design mockup with an itemized estimate. The mockup shows the sign on your building or site, sized to what Georgetown allows.

Once you approve, we prepare the permit package. When the property is in an overlay, we also prepare the materials for the Certificate of Appropriateness. We track the review and answer the city's questions.

Then we fabricate the sign in our own Houston shop. Our work is UL-certified. Our team installs the sign, and every sign carries a 5-year warranty.

We also repair and refurbish signs that are already standing. That includes new lighting, new faces, and repainting. On historic buildings, we check whether the work needs design review before we start.

We serve businesses across Georgetown, from the Square to Williams Drive, Wolf Ranch, and the I-35 and SH 130 corridors.