Concord, NC Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

CDO Section 12.5.2.L states flatly that billboards with LED or electronic reader boards are not permitted in Concord, cross-referencing the general prohibited-signs list in Section 12.2. That default prohibition covers every off-premise outdoor advertising sign in the I-1 and I-2 districts where billboards are otherwise allowed.

The ordinance carves out one narrow exception in CDO Section 12.5.3, Digital Display Billboard Conversion, which lets an existing static billboard convert to a digital display face only if it already sits within 100 feet of the right-of-way of a limited access highway, and only if the conversion stays outside 500 feet of any residential use as measured from the closest point of the residential structure. Even a qualifying conversion cannot proceed if another billboard of any type sits within 2,000 feet; the nearer billboard must be removed before the conversion permit issues, and after conversion no new billboard of any kind may go up within that same 2,000-foot radius.

Section 12.5.3.C then layers on the actual lighting standard: every converted billboard with a digital display face must meet the minimum North Carolina Department of Transportation requirements for lighting intensity and message duration set out in NC Administrative Code 2E.0203, subsections 3(a) through (c) and 4(a)(i) through (iii), in addition to the general billboard standards of Section 12.5.2 such as the 30-foot height cap and required setbacks.