Aiken County, SC Ordinances (2026)

Aiken County adopted IRC Appendix G, the model swimming pool, spa, and hot tub code, under Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-131, and enforces its barrier and gate provisions through the…

Aiken County only exempts a swimming pool from a building permit if it is a prefabricated pool less than 24 inches deep, per Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-76(b)(1)g. Any in-ground or…

Short-term rental hosts in Aiken County, including residences and other properties rented to transients, owe the county's 3% local accommodations tax on gross rental proceeds…

Aiken County allows electronic message signs only if their content stays static, with no flashing, scrolling, or video, and caps brightness at 7,500 nits by day and 500 nits from dusk…

Within Aiken County's Highway Corridor Overlay District, holiday lighting and outline neon are carved out of the county's strict commercial outdoor lighting standards entirely…

Aiken County bans signs in the public right-of-way except a short list of exceptions, and yard-sale directional signs are one of them: they cannot exceed 3 square feet, must be…

Unstaffed Aiken County parks close to the public every night: Section 16-5 limits access to 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from October through March and 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from April…

Aiken County bars outdoor lighting from spilling onto a neighbor's land: Section 24-5.5(6) requires every fixture to be mounted so its cone of light misses every property line, and…

Aiken County requires every outdoor light fixture, whether on a pole, building wall, or used for display and decoration, to be a full cutoff luminary with its bulb hidden inside an…

In Aiken County's RC, RD, RM, and RH5 residential zoning districts, a home occupation cannot display any sign at all. The rule sits alongside the county's broader home occupation…

Aiken County limits customer and delivery traffic generated by a home occupation to no more than what would normally occur in a residential neighborhood. The standard applies to every…

Aiken County allows a home occupation only where Table 1 of the zoning code lists it as a conditional use. The business must run entirely inside the home, occupy no more than 25…

Aiken County treats family day-care homes as a residential accessory use under its zoning table, permitted by right in most districts but conditional in the Residential-Horse 5 (RH5)…

Aiken County imposes a 3% local accommodations tax on gross proceeds from renting hotel, motel, inn, condominium, bed and breakfast, or other transient lodging within the county…

Aiken County's building official can order repair, vacating or demolition of any dwelling that is unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise unfit for human habitation under Chapter 15, Article…

Aiken County requires household recyclables and waste dropped at its Recycling Drop-Off Centers to be bagged in plastic, generated in the county, and delivered by county residents from…

Aiken County makes it unlawful to dump or leave trash, refuse, or garbage on any property unless the site is a permitted landfill or county drop-off center, backed by fines up to…

Any trash container of four or more cubic yards that sits in open storage and is visible from a public street must be screened under Aiken County's Sec. 24-5.2.3-24-5.2.4, using an…

Aiken County bans smoking at amphitheaters, ball parks and stadiums during events, parades and special events on public streets and county property, sidewalk and patio dining areas…

Aiken County makes it unlawful to loiter at any county park or recreation center in a way that disturbs others, risks a breach of the peace, or creates a danger of injury. Section 16-6…

Aiken County requires skateboards, skates and bicycles to always yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in county parks. Code Section 16-2(b)(4) covers walking tracks, trails and any…

Aiken County enforces the National Electrical Code as adopted by South Carolina under Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-121, and requires a permit from the building official under Sec. 5-76…

Aiken County requires a building permit before you construct, enlarge, alter, or move a structure, or change its utility service or meter, under Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-76. Property…

Aiken County's building official can order an unsafe, dilapidated, or unsanitary dwelling repaired, vacated, or demolished under Code Section 15-37, following a hearing and written…

A festival, carnival, circus, fair, or outdoor concert in Aiken County needs a temporary use permit from the planning and development director before it can open. The event is capped…

Anyone wanting to reserve an Aiken County park or facility for a gathering must sign the rental agreement the county administrator develops under Code § 16-2(a), pay the ordinance-set…

Aiken County permits one accessory apartment per single-family, owner-occupied lot as a conditional use under Table 1. The unit cannot exceed 50 percent of the main house's floor area…

Aiken County caps accessory buildings like sheds at 20 feet tall in the buildable area, or 12 feet if placed in a required setback, under Section 24-8.6. On parcels under two acres in…

When a development substitutes a fence or wall for a required landscape bufferyard, Sec. 24-5.1.8(2) bans chain-link fencing with wood, plastic, or metal privacy strips outright, while…

Aiken County exempts fences up to six feet high from needing a building permit under Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-76(b)(1)b. A fence taller than six feet, or any fence located in a flood…

Aiken County requires the finished, presentable side of any fence or wall to face the neighboring property, not the fence owner's own yard, under Section 24-8.2(6). The rougher…

Aiken County exempts a retaining wall from a building permit only if it is four feet or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, and is not supporting a…

Aiken County caps fences, walls, and hedges in a residential front yard at four feet and allows up to eight feet in any other yard, per Section 24-8.2(6). Any fence or wall taller than…

Aiken County bans amplified music, loudspeakers, and sound equipment played loudly enough to disturb others' peace, whether inside a building or outdoors, treating it as a public…

Aiken County bars pile drivers, power shovels, pneumatic hammers, derricks, hoists and similar loud construction equipment between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. under Code § 15-22(10)(g)…

Aiken County Code § 15-22(10)(b) makes habitual barking, howling, yelping, crying, crowing or singing by a dog, other animal or bird that disturbs the neighborhood a declared noise…

Aiken County requires any noise-creating blower or power fan to be muffled under Code § 15-22(10)(h), and exempts routine lawn and yard maintenance noise only between 6:00 a.m. and…

Aiken County caps how loud a conditionally permitted manufacturing, commercial or other nonresidential use can be at its lot line: Sec. 24-3.3(3) sets maximum sound-pressure levels by…

Aiken County Code § 15-22(10)(c)-(e) bans unnecessary horn honking, unmuffled engine or exhaust noise, and vehicles so out of repair or loaded that they rattle or grind loudly on any…

Aiken County bans dumping anything but stormwater into its storm sewer system under Chapter 19.6, the Stormwater Management Program adopted to meet its NPDES small-MS4 permit…

Aiken County requires a grading permit and an approved erosion and sediment control plan before land can be disturbed. Chapter 19.5, dating to 1974, bars grading without…

Aiken County requires one foot of freeboard above the base flood elevation for any new or substantially improved structure in a mapped flood hazard area. Section 24-2.10.19 sets that…

Aiken County regulates all development within FEMA-mapped floodplains, shallow-flooding areas, and floodways through its Flood Hazard Overlay (FHO) District under Code Section 24-2.10…

Aiken County does not mandate spay or neuter for every pet, but every dog and cat adopted from the county animal shelter must be sterilized and microchipped before adoption closes. The…

Aiken County makes it unlawful for a dog to run at large off its owner's own property; Sec. 4-30 requires a dog off the owner's land to be under restraint or confinement by a leash or…

Aiken County explicitly refuses to treat any breed as automatically dangerous: Sec. 4-32(c) states an animal is not dangerous solely by virtue of its breed or species. Instead, the…

Aiken County bars anyone from keeping a wild animal as a pet unless federal or state law specifically allows it, and separately bans keeping any wild or vicious animal on a property…

Aiken County allows up to six domestic chickens, including roosters, as a conditional accessory use to a single-family home in most residential districts under Sec. 24-3.26. Coops must…

Aiken County's zoning ordinance sets minimum yard setbacks by district and street type in Table 2 under Section 24-2.5(a). Most residential and rural districts require a 50-foot front…

Aiken County caps residential building height at 35 feet in most zoning districts under Table 2 of the zoning ordinance, measured from average finished grade to the highest point of a…

Aiken County caps how much of a lot can be covered by buildings and pavement through the impervious surface ratio in Table 2 of the zoning ordinance. Residential and rural districts…

Aiken County bars camping in county parks except in designated areas and only with written approval from the director of the department of parks, recreation and tourism, under Code §…

Aiken County requires an off-street loading area for nonresidential and multifamily development along its Highway Corridor Overlay District roads whenever deliveries are routine…

Aiken County treats a partially dismantled, wrecked, junked, or non-operating vehicle left on a property for more than ten days as a public nuisance under Code Section 15-22(9)…

In Aiken County's RC, RM, RD, and OR residential districts, Sec. 24-4.11 caps homeowners at one licensed commercial vehicle of no more than 2 tons capacity, and flatly bans…

Aiken County controls on-street parking through signage: wherever a sign declares parking, stopping, or standing prohibited, limited, or restricted, obeying it is mandatory under Code…

In Aiken County's RC, RM, RD and OR residential districts, Sec. 24-4.10 allows only one recreational vehicle or boat outside a required setback area, but permits 24-hour loading stops…

Residential driveways in Aiken County must be at least 12 feet wide and serve no more than two parcels under Sec. 24-7.3(9). If the driveway isn't concrete or asphalt, the first 30…

Aiken County limits how contractors may prune protected trees on commercial and multifamily sites in its Highway Corridor Overlay District: no more than one-third of a tree's crown can…

Aiken County bars removal of 'significant' or 'grand' trees from the protected setback, buffer and open-space areas of commercial and multifamily projects in its Highway Corridor…

Aiken County does not license vape shops separately, but Sec. 24-3.27 zones them tightly: a smoke or vape shop must sit at least 2,000 feet from schools, day cares, parks, churches and…

Aiken County requires anyone operating a sexually oriented business, adult bookstore, cabaret, motel, arcade or escort agency to hold a county permit before opening, and operating…

Aiken County limits vehicle work in the RC, RD, RM, and OR residential districts to minor maintenance done in the open, such as fluid changes, spark plugs, and tire rotation. Section…

Aiken County only allows food trucks and other vendors where the zoning use table lists vending as a conditional use. Sec. 24-3.20 then sets the site rules: a 20-foot setback from the…

Aiken County requires any conditionally permitted vendor, including mobile food operations, to sit at least 20 feet back from the nearest street right-of-way, provide at least two…

Aiken County requires every used mobile home moved into or within the unincorporated county to include a working smoke detector, one of fourteen minimum habitability standards, before…

Aiken County requires written permission from the county administrator before anyone places a structure, fence or other object on county-owned property or an easement, including…

Aiken County's temporary sign table bars A-frame signs placed on a sidewalk from blocking pedestrian movement, and it applies the same no-interference standard to banners and pennants…

Aiken County allows garage, yard, tag, patio, and apartment sales in every zoning district, but Section 24-8.9 caps residential-district sales at four per calendar year with a maximum…

Aiken County requires anyone peddling, selling, or soliciting door-to-door on private property in the unincorporated county to register with the Clerk of Court, pass a SLED background…

Aiken County declares junk, disabled vehicles, old lumber, compost, and improperly contained septic waste that harbor rats, snakes, or vermin a public nuisance under Code Section…

Aiken County shields working farms from urban encroachment through its Agricultural Preservation (AP) zoning district, created under County Code Section 24-2.2(1) to protect…

Aiken County gives its largest trees, oaks, pines and magnolias over 24 inches in diameter, a higher protection tier than ordinary 'significant' trees: a Grand Tree in a protected…