Franklin County, NC Ordinances (2026)

Franklin County has no curbside recycling: the Solid Waste Department runs 11 staffed convenience centers instead. Sections 24-89 through 24-91 of the County Code make it unlawful to…

In unincorporated Franklin County, commercial trash, compaction and recycling service areas must sit on the side or rear of the building, fully enclosed by opaque walls, gates or…

Leaves, grass, limbs, and trimmings from landscaping count as yard waste under Franklin County's code. It costs $40.00 per ton to drop yard waste at the county transfer station, stumps…

Franklin County Code Chapter 24 governs how solid waste and recycling get collected and transported countywide. Collection vehicles and containers must be covered, durable, and…

Furniture, mattresses, televisions, and other oversize items count as bulky waste under Franklin County's solid waste code. Convenience center attendants cap residents at one load of…

Dumping litter or solid waste on public or private property not designed to receive it is a misdemeanor in unincorporated Franklin County, carrying up to a $500.00 fine plus a $50.00…

Franklin County's convenience centers keep separate containers for aluminum, cardboard, glass, batteries, magazines, motor oil, newspapers, and plastic bottles, but each material has…

Under Franklin County's Noise Ordinance, keeping any animal, other than livestock or poultry, that causes frequent or long continued noise disrupting a neighbor's comfort is a loud and…

Franklin County's Noise Ordinance treats an unnecessary car horn and a vehicle that rattles, grinds or grates from disrepair as loud and disturbing noise violations in unincorporated…

Franklin County's Noise Ordinance does not restrict aircraft noise: section 14-59(5) exempts all noise from the normal operations of properly equipped aircraft from the county's loud…

Franklin County's noise ordinance singles out sound-amplifying devices: Sec. 14-58(b)(3) bans playing a radio, TV, musical instrument, or sound-amplifying device loud enough to disturb…

Franklin County's Noise Ordinance exempts emergency generator noise from enforcement: section 14-59(7) excuses emergency work needed to restore property after a fire, accident or…

Franklin County's fire marshal can order a ban on all open burning within 100 feet of a structure, tied to the state forest service burning ban or triggered locally during hazardous…

Franklin County regulates fireworks in two places: section 14-59(9) exempts fireworks noise from the county's Noise Ordinance only on holidays or when covered by a pyrotechnics permit…

Unincorporated Franklin County limits outdoor watering to an odd/even-address schedule and set hours under Code § 34-128. Direct watering of pavement and vehicle or surface washing…

Franklin County's landscaping standards encourage using plant material compatible with what already grows on and around the site, specifically pushing native plants, and flatly ban…

Franklin County bars tobacco use on ballfields, courts, tracks and in dugout or bench areas during youth games or practices, and extends the smoking ban to those same areas during all…

Franklin County bars riding a skateboard, along with bicycles, roller skates, roller blades, sleds and similar devices, on park sidewalks, trails, courts, ballfields, benches, tables…

Loitering or congregating at a Franklin County solid waste transfer station or a convenience/recycling center is banned outright, and any vehicle left unattended at either site is…

In unincorporated Franklin County, leaking water services or plumbing must be fixed within five days of written notice from the public utilities department. Ignoring the notice…

Franklin County's outdoor water use ordinance exempts properties irrigating with nonpotable or reuse water from its watering-day schedule and hour limits. There is no separate…

In unincorporated Franklin County, no development activity can begin in a Special Flood Hazard Area without a Floodplain Development Permit from the Floodplain Administrator. Violating…

No one may get a land-development, land-disturbing or building permit in unincorporated Franklin County without first meeting the stormwater ordinance and obtaining a stormwater…

In unincorporated Franklin County, no one may start land-disturbing work of one acre or more without an erosion and sedimentation control plan approved by NC DEQ. Smaller sites are not…

For lots in Franklin County's AO-zone shallow flooding areas, the Unified Development Code requires new construction and substantial improvements to raise the reference level to the…

Anyone can trigger a Franklin County zoning investigation by filing a complaint with the Administrator, who must look into it and take warranted action. Confirmed violations get a…

A family child care home is a by-right permitted use across every residential and most nonresidential zoning district in unincorporated Franklin County, with no special use permit…

Franklin County treats home-based work as an accessory use under UDC § 5.3.10, capping it to a fixed list of professions such as offices for physicians, lawyers, or engineers and…

A Franklin County home occupation can advertise with only one sign: a non-lighted, flush-mounted sign no bigger than four square feet. UDC § 5.3.10.4.b also bars outdoor material…

Franklin County classifies short-term rentals as either a bed-and-breakfast or a hotel/motel use. A rental in a residential district needs a Special Use Permit, and every short-term…

A bed and breakfast in unincorporated Franklin County must have its operator living on the premises or on an adjacent property, including any boarding or tourist home version of the…

Short-term rentals in unincorporated Franklin County must provide at least one off-street parking space for every rental bedroom. The Unified Development Code splits short-term rentals…

Franklin County's Table 5-2 caps residential structure height at 35 feet in the R-80 and R-8 districts alike, matching the 35-foot cap used across the county's other residential zones…

In Franklin County's rural AR district with well and septic, a single-family home needs a 30-foot front setback, 10-foot side setback and 25-foot rear setback on a 30,000-square-foot…

Single-family detached homes in unincorporated Franklin County cannot cover more than 70% of the building envelope, the area between setback lines, with the primary structure's…

In unincorporated Franklin County, the Unified Development Code requires every property owners association approved with a subdivision to collect assessments covering liability…

Franklin County's Unified Development Code requires subdivisions with common assets to form a property owners association responsible for maintaining common areas, features and private…

Unincorporated Franklin County allows home occupations only for a narrow list of low-impact trades, and its Unified Development Code expressly bars repair of engines, vehicles, boats…

Unincorporated Franklin County channels every sexually oriented business into a special use permit under UDC § 5.3.6.P, and layers on spacing: a half-mile buffer from any other…

Body art establishments offering tattooing, piercing, cosmetic tattooing, branding or scarification cannot locate adjacent to any residentially used property in unincorporated Franklin…

Franklin County's Unified Development Code lists pet grooming among the handful of businesses allowed as a home occupation in unincorporated areas, but only without boarding animals or…

Franklin County bans keeping an exotic animal, defined as a non-native carnivore, primate or venomous species, unless it stays confined in a secure enclosure approved by Animal…

Unincorporated Franklin County bans letting any dog or animal run at-large or wandering stray, enforced by the Animal Services Director with confiscation and a $100 civil penalty per…

Franklin County has no breed ban; instead the Animal Services Director designates individual dogs dangerous after an incident, requiring a secure enclosure and a posted warning sign…

Anyone who finds a stray animal in unincorporated Franklin County and keeps it instead of surrendering it must report it to Animal Services within 48 hours and prove the animal was…

Unincorporated Franklin County allows veterinary clinics and animal hospitals only with a Special Use Permit in the AR and R-30 residential districts, while they are flatly prohibited…

In unincorporated Franklin County, every cat four months or older must have a current rabies vaccination, and while cats skip the metal tag dogs must wear, owners must keep the…

Franklin County does not require spay or neuter surgery for every pet, but Sec. 6-69(b) makes it mandatory for any animal adopted unaltered from the county animal shelter. Adopters of…

Franklin County exempts residential roof-mounted solar panel systems from its Zoning Compliance Permit requirement outright. Ground-mounted and building-integrated systems, and any…

Unincorporated Franklin County exempts owner-run garage and yard sales from its temporary use permit, but only if the sale runs no more than 3 consecutive days and the property owner…

Franklin County requires off-street loading berths sized to use type: one per 20,000 square feet of gross floor area for retail, and one per 50,000 square feet for offices and…

Unincorporated Franklin County residents may keep up to two recreational vehicles or boats outdoors on a residential lot as an accessory use under the Unified Development Code. Any…

Unincorporated Franklin County's Unified Development Code bans storing three or more inoperable vehicles, or household furniture and appliances, outdoors in any residential zoning…

In unincorporated Franklin County, impervious surface for driveways, parking and walkways on a front-loaded single-family or duplex lot cannot exceed 40% of the required front yard…

In unincorporated Franklin County, farms of five acres or more can enroll in a Voluntary Agricultural District, and enhanced districts let landowners sell up to 25 percent nonfarm…

Franklin County's agricultural district program states its purpose is to cut nuisance disputes between farmers and neighbors, and requires a recorded notice warning real estate…

In unincorporated Franklin County, the Unified Development Code requires subdividers to plant street trees along both sides of every public and private right-of-way in new residential…

In unincorporated Franklin County, fences and walls along a side or rear lot line may reach 6 feet, while a fence in the required front yard or street yard is capped at 4 feet, except…

Barbed wire fencing is prohibited across unincorporated Franklin County except for industrial districts, agricultural uses, protection of public utilities, and security fencing tied to…

Unincorporated Franklin County does not set a general height or permit standard for retaining walls, but where a retaining wall involves placing fill inside a regulated floodway or…

In unincorporated Franklin County, all exterior lighting on regulated sites must be shielded or directed away from adjacent lots and public streets. Any rear floodlight on a…

Exterior lighting in unincorporated Franklin County cannot exceed 0.2 foot-candles at a residential lot line, or 1 foot-candle between two adjacent nonresidential properties. Lighting…

In unincorporated Franklin County, the Unified Development Code prohibits indirect illumination such as floodlights on any sign, including billboards, if the light causes glare that…

When Franklin County reviews a proposed subdivision in the unincorporated area, developers cannot destroy register-listed or register-eligible cultural, archeological or historic…

County parks in unincorporated Franklin County open at 8:00 a.m. and close at sunset unless the parks and recreation department has authorized an event to run later. Separately, no one…

Anyone who wants to use a Franklin County park or recreational facility for a special event, gathering, amplified music, fireworks, or sales beyond routine day use must get approval…

In unincorporated Franklin County, every outdoor swimming pool, in-ground, aboveground, or on-ground, plus hot tubs and spas, must be provided with a barrier under the Unified…

Unincorporated Franklin County allows one accessory dwelling unit per lot under UDC § 5.3.10, but only on lots with a single principal dwelling: no ADUs on duplexes, multi-family lots…

A shed or other detached accessory structure in unincorporated Franklin County needs the primary structure's permits already issued before it goes up, must stay at least 5 feet from…

Unincorporated Franklin County requires a building permit before most construction, administered by the department of planning and inspections under Sec. 8-19(a). Sec. 8-20 exempts…

Unincorporated Franklin County wires new and altered electrical work to the North Carolina Electrical Code, adopted by reference in Sec. 8-19(b) along with all of the state building…

Unincorporated Franklin County has no separate plumbing ordinance; Sec. 8-19(b) adopts the North Carolina plumbing code by reference as part of a single sentence covering the state's…

Franklin County ties building inspections to occupancy: Sec. 8-22(f) requires a zoning permit and fire inspections whenever a building's use changes, cross-referencing the fire…

Franklin County's carbon monoxide alarm mandate is not a rule for ordinary houses. Sec. 11-28 puts lodging establishments, extended-stay hotels and motels, and bed and breakfasts on an…

The Franklin County Fire Marshal must make fire prevention inspections of day care facilities in the unincorporated county, a duty spelled out alongside school inspections in the…

Franklin County's general penalty ordinance lets the county go to court for an injunction and order of abatement against any unlawful property condition, and a judge may order a…

Unincorporated Franklin County allows electronic message boards and changeable-copy displays on permanent ground and wall signs, but UDC § 8.4.2(D) and § 8.4.3(D) cap the digital or…

In unincorporated Franklin County, political signs are not separately capped or restricted by the county's own Unified Development Code. Instead, UDC § 8.3.6(I) simply requires that…

In unincorporated Franklin County, window signs placed on the interior or exterior of glass storefronts may not cover more than 30% of a business's total glass area. UDC § 8.3.6(L)…

In unincorporated Franklin County's mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas, new residential construction and substantial improvements must have their lowest floor elevated to the Regulatory…