Sign Regulations in Asheville, NC (2026)
4 verified sign regulations for Asheville, North Carolina, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Political Signs
Asheville allows political campaign signs in every zoning district without a sign permit, but ties them to the election calendar. City Code Sec. 7-13-2(d)(6) caps each sign at two display faces, bars posting more than 30 days before a primary (45 days before a general or runoff), and requires removal within five days after the vote.
Asheville Political Campaign Sign Rules
Some RestrictionsAsheville City Code Sec. 7-13-2(d)(6)
(6) Political signs. Signs for candidates or election for issues on a ballot shall be allowed in any zoning district providing such signs do not exceed equity square feet in area per display face and two faces per sign. All such signs may not be erected prior to 30 days before the first official day of polling for the appropriate primary, or 45 days before the appropriate general or run-off r...
Digital Billboards
Asheville outright bars new digital off-premises signs, the technical name for billboards that aren't advertising the business on whose lot they sit. Section 7-13-3(19) prohibits any digital, non-conforming, off-premises sign citywide, and even a legally permitted digital billboard that predates the ban can be kept only as-is: it can never be replaced or relocated.
Asheville Bans New Digital Billboards
Heavy RestrictionsAsheville City Code Section 7-13-3(19)
The following signs and/or sign features shall not be erected or maintained in any zoning district within the planning and regulation jurisdiction of the City of Asheville. The board of adjustment shall not have the authority to grant variances so as to allow prohibited signs to be installed. ... (19) Non-conforming, off-premises signs - Digital. Digital, non-conforming, off-premises signs ar...
Window Signs
Asheville lets businesses post up to 16 square feet of temporary window signage per business with no permit. Go over that, or run a bigger campaign, and the sign counts as a permitted temporary sign limited to two 30-day runs per year.
Asheville Window Sign Rules
Some RestrictionsAsheville Code of Ordinances § 7-13-4(a)(8)
(8) Temporary signs. Temporary signs shall be allowed in all nonresidential zoning districts as follows: a. Temporary signs which are affixed to the inside of a window and which do not exceed a cumulative total for all such signs of 16 square feet in area are allowed, without a permit, for each business. b. Temporary signs affixed to the inside of windows and which exceed a cumulative tot...
Freeway-Facing Signs
Asheville bans new off-premises billboards within 660 feet of the interstate and federal-aid highway right-of-way if the sign is visible from the traveled way. Sec. 7-13-3(9) writes the federal Highway Beautification Act's corridor into city law and prohibits any such sign erected on or after the sign article's effective date, while grandfathering ones already standing.
Asheville Freeway-Facing Billboard Ban
Heavy RestrictionsAsheville City Code Sec. 7-13-3(9)
(9) Off-premises signs along federal aid primary and interstate system. Off-premises signs which are within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the maintained traveled way of the federal aid primary and interstate system, all as described in the Federal Highway Beautification Assistance Act of 1979, as amended, and which are constructed or erected on or after the...
Looking for Buncombe County county-wide rules?
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Asheville city rules.
Sign Regulations in Buncombe County →