Union County, NC Ordinances (2026)

Union County's animal ordinance defines when a dog is "at large" and requires restraint in specific situations: puppies and kittens four months or younger, female dogs in heat, and any…

Union County bans owning a wild animal that weighs more than 50 pounds outright. Anything at or under that weight must stay in a secure enclosure at all times, and every owner of a…

Union County doesn't regulate by breed. Instead the chief animal control officer can declare any dog "potentially dangerous" after a bite, attack or fighting history, and owners of a…

Union County doesn't require every pet owner to spay or neuter, but anyone adopting a dog or cat from the county animal shelter must sign an adoption contract committing to it. The…

Unincorporated Union County zones dog and cat grooming shops as an Animal Service use under the county's Unified Development Ordinance. A grooming shop stays in that lighter category…

Union County's Unified Development Ordinance zones animal hospitals and veterinary clinics as a distinct Animal Service use. A clinic keeps that classification only while it stays…

In unincorporated Union County, it is unlawful for a cat or dog owner to let a female animal in heat go unconfined where she can contact or attract other animals. The county's animal…

Outside of a bona fide farm, any area in unincorporated Union County where livestock or poultry are housed must sit at least 150 feet back from all lot lines under the Unified…

Union County treats a dog that barks, whines or howls "in an excessive or continuous fashion" so as to seriously annoy or interfere with a neighbor's enjoyment of their property as a…

Union County bans any radio, stereo, CD player or other sound amplification device, whether operated by a pedestrian or from a vehicle, that is audible 50 feet or more from its source…

Union County bars sounding a car horn, whistle or signal device "so as to create any unreasonable, loud or harsh sound" or for an unreasonable length of time, unless it is a danger…

Union County exempts construction noise from its nuisance-noise ordinance only between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on weekdays and 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on weekends, and only if…

Unincorporated Union County only exempts leaf blowers and other landscape maintenance equipment from its noise ordinance between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., every day of the week, and…

Unincorporated Union County's noise ordinance doesn't touch aircraft. Section 26-21(12) exempts 'noise created by any aircraft flight operations' from the county's nuisance-noise rules…

In unincorporated Union County, an outdoor entertainment or spectator-sports use sited less than 200 feet (minor) or 500 feet (major) from a residential-zoned lot must keep amplified…

Union County bans dumping litter on any public or private property or in any waters the person does not own, lease, or have authorization to use, and backs it with escalating civil…

In unincorporated Union County, no owner, occupant, tenant, or lessee of a building or dwelling may leave bulky wastes outside longer than 72 hours, per Union County Code of Ordinances…

In unincorporated Union County, every property owner, occupant, tenant, or lessee must remove or have removed all solid waste from the property at least once every seven days, per…

Commercial dumpsters in unincorporated Union County must be screened from the public right-of-way and from neighboring properties under UDO Section 55.080, unless the adjoining…

Union County's Voluntary Agricultural District program lets landowners in an enhanced district sell up to 25 percent of gross sales as non-farm products and still keep bona fide farm…

Union County posts a notice at the Register of Deeds under Sec. 4-33(b) warning buyers that spraying, manure spreading, machinery, livestock and other farm activities in a voluntary…

Union County bans drinking or carrying an open container of beer or wine on any park property, and bans possessing or drinking liquor, fortified wine or mixed drinks there entirely…

Union County bans smoking and tobacco use, including e-cigarettes and vaping, across the entire human services campus at 2330 Concord Avenue in Monroe, covering the building's…

Union County requires refuse on unincorporated-area properties to be stored so it will not attract rodents or vermin. The rule sits inside the county's general solid-waste storage and…

Union County outright bans camping, meaning sleeping, storing belongings, or pitching a tent or temporary shelter, anywhere on county-owned or leased property. Camping is declared a…

Union County treats any vehicle parked without a permit in its reserved parking areas at the Government Center and Old Post Office in Monroe as abandoned and subject to towing. The…

Union County adopts the state Pawnbrokers and Cash Converters Modernization Act and adds a local reporting duty: every pawnbroker and cash converter must photograph or video each…

Union County's Unified Development Ordinance classifies a massage business as an Adult Use unless every employee performing massage meets the American Massage Therapy Association's…

Unincorporated Union County doesn't run its own pawnshop license desk. Instead, Section 10-51 adopts North Carolina's Pawnbrokers and Cash Converters Modernization Act as the licensing…

Vehicle and engine repair is banned outright as a suburban home occupation in unincorporated Union County. Section 35.040-E(13)(a) of the Unified Development Ordinance prohibits any…

In unincorporated Union County, an adult video store, adult hotel/motel, or adult lingerie modeling studio cannot open without a special use permit under the Unified Development…

Any open-air event in unincorporated Union County that charges admission and draws more than 200 people for six or more continuous hours needs a permit from the county's human services…

Union County outlaws setting or kindling any fire on county-owned or leased property unless a permit expressly allows it. The rule reaches parks and other government land, not private…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance lets barbeque pits and outdoor fireplaces stand inside any required street, side or rear yard setback under Table…

In unincorporated Union County, new and substantially improved residential structures in a mapped special flood hazard area must have their lowest floor built no lower than the…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance caps post-development stormwater discharge. Any project disturbing more than one acre of land, or creating more than a…

Unincorporated Union County will not approve a development causing land-disturbing activity until the state's environmental agency has approved, or signaled it will approve, an erosion…

In unincorporated Union County, nothing may be built, altered, or developed in a mapped special flood hazard area without meeting anchoring, flood-resistant construction, and utility…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance blocks any tree or plant species on the North Carolina Department of Transportation's Invasive Exotic Plants of North…

Unincorporated Union County water customers face year-round mandatory irrigation limits under Union County Code of Ordinances § 34-47: spray irrigation is capped at three days a week…

Development in unincorporated Union County that removes trees outside the buildable area must replace them under UDO Section 55.030: every tree of 12 inches or more in diameter has to…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance treats rainwater harvesting equipment, such as a cistern or rain barrel system, as a permitted setback obstruction…

In unincorporated Union County, nonresidential outdoor lighting must be shielded so almost none of the light escapes above horizontal, and light spilling across a property line is…

Union County caps sign glare at the property line under UDO Section 50.070: light trespass from an illuminated sign cannot push the light level along a right-of-way or a residential…

New subdivisions in unincorporated Union County must plant street trees roughly every 50 feet along lot frontages, spaced within 15 feet of the road right-of-way, under a standard…

In unincorporated Union County, temporary holiday light displays are fully exempt from the county's outdoor lighting standards, meaning no shielding, spillover cap, or zoning permit…

In unincorporated Union County, off-premise signs, the freeway billboards along local highways, are allowed only in the HC (Highway Commercial) zoning district under UDO Section…

In unincorporated Union County, temporary campaign and election signs are exempt from the sign permit requirement under UDO Section 50.030-K. Each individual sign may not exceed 32…

Union County has no separate garage-sale or yard-sale sign category. In unincorporated areas, a garage sale sign is regulated as a general temporary sign under UDO Section 50.030-P…

Electronic message centers, digital display signs and video signs are banned outright in unincorporated Union County. Section 50.020 of the Unified Development Ordinance lists them…

Union County will not approve a final subdivision plat unless any property owners association responsible for shared streets or open space is legally set up with the power to compel…

New and substantially improved homes and manufactured homes in a Union County flood hazard area must have their lowest floor raised to the regulatory flood protection elevation, which…

In unincorporated Union County, day care conducted in a residence is carved out of the home occupation ordinance entirely. Section 35.040 exempts day care and similar nonresidential…

A home-based business in unincorporated Union County must qualify as either a suburban or rural home occupation under the Unified Development Ordinance, with suburban operations capped…

In unincorporated Union County, a home occupation cannot generate parking demand or traffic that is atypical of a residential neighborhood. Section 35.040-E(8) folds customer and…

Unincorporated Union County can designate a property as a historic landmark once its Historic Preservation Commission finds special historical, architectural, prehistoric, or cultural…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance's Table 100-1 lets fences and walls stand within any required street, side or rear yard setback, but an opaque or…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance sets minimum yard setbacks by residential zoning district in Table 5-2, from 40 feet in the RA-200 and R-40 districts…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance caps residential building height at 35 feet in the RA-200 through R-10 districts and 50 feet in R-8, R-6 and R-4 under…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance caps the combined footprint of all buildings and structures on a residential lot at 40 percent under Table 5-2, the…

Private EV chargers are allowed as an accessory use on every parcel in unincorporated Union County, and public chargers are allowed at any nonresidential use, with no separate permit…

Commercial and industrial buildings in unincorporated Union County must provide off-street loading spaces sized to the building's floor area, not just parking. Section 45.120 of the…

In unincorporated Union County's residential districts, storing a motor vehicle that is neither licensed nor operational outside of a substantially enclosed structure does not qualify…

Solar panels are an accessory use in unincorporated Union County, reviewed through the standard building and electrical permit process rather than a separate zoning permit, but Section…

Yard and garage sales run permit-free in unincorporated Union County as long as the same lot does not host more than 3 sale days, consecutive or not, in any 90-day period. Section…

A shed or other accessory building in an unincorporated Union County residential district needs a zoning permit and, if set completely behind the rear building line, only a 5-foot rear…

Unincorporated Union County allows one accessory dwelling unit per parcel in any residential zoning district, but only on a lot with a single principal house, and the unit cannot…