Cleveland County, NC Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Section 12-282 of the Unified Development Ordinance's sign article governs off-premise signs, commonly billboards, that are not exempt under section 12-281(c). Subsection (7) is the county's shielding rule: lighting on a billboard must be effectively shielded to prevent beams or rays from being directed at any portion of a road's traveled way or at any residential dwellings, and the lighting cannot be of an intensity or brilliance that causes glare, impairs a driver's vision, or interferes with a driver's operation of a vehicle or the effectiveness of an official traffic sign, device or signal.

This shielding requirement sits alongside the article's other billboard standards: signs must be spaced at least 1,000 feet apart measured along the road centerline, capped at 325 square feet of display area (400 square feet along an interstate), limited to 35 feet in height (50 feet along an interstate), and set back 300 feet from a residential district boundary, 50 feet from a four-lane limited access highway, 30 feet from other public roads, and 50 feet from a principal building under subsection (8). A billboard permit is issued by the administrator under the same provisions that govern zoning permits, per section 12-281(b)(1).