Florence County, SC Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

Florence County Code § 30-207 sets the technical standards for outdoor sign lighting in the unincorporated county, covering both static billboards and off-premises digital or electronic changing-message signs. Subsection (f) permits digital and electronic changing-message off-site signs, including preexisting nonconforming billboards converted to digital displays, but only under nine listed conditions. Each message must hold for a minimum of six seconds, the transition between messages cannot exceed one second, and the code bans any visual dissolve, fade, flashing, sudden burst of light, or appearance of video motion or animation within the sign face.

Every digital or electronic changing-message sign must carry automatic day/night dimming software that lowers illumination intensity beginning one hour after sunset and continuing until one hour before sunrise, and each unit must include a light-sensing device that adjusts brightness as ambient light changes. 3 foot-candle increase over ambient conditions, measured with a foot-candle meter at a preset distance keyed to sign size, for example 150 feet for displays of 300 square feet or less and 250 feet for displays up to 672 square feet. New digital installations on existing structures must sit at least 650 feet from any other digital display facing the same direction.

Subsection (g) extends the illumination rule to every sign in the county, not only digital ones: illuminated signs cannot shine directly onto abutting properties, cannot simulate traffic control devices or emergency vehicle lights, and cannot use lights that switch on and off, change intensity or color, or otherwise create the illusion of flashing or movement. Billboard structures built after the ordinance's effective date must also meet subsection (e)'s single steel pole design and 110-mile-per-hour wind load standard under the southeastern building code. The Florence County Planning Department administers sign permits and can order repair or removal of noncompliant sign structures.