York County, SC Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)
Key Facts
- New billboards
- Prohibited outright, § 155.932(B)/155.938(A)
- Existing billboards
- May continue as nonconforming uses
- Sign lighting vs. general outdoor lighting rules
- Exempt if fully shielded
- Traffic-confusing illumination
- Prohibited, § 155.932(I)
- Illuminated tubing on signs
- Max one 60-day display per year
- Removal notice period
- 30 days before county removes sign
Summary
York County bans construction of new billboards outright, and any billboard lighting is exempt from the county's general outdoor lighting design standards, so long as it does not create the kind of confusing illumination that mimics a traffic signal, which is separately prohibited.
§ 155.932 PROHIBITED SIGNS. A person may not construct, install, operate, display, or use the following types of signs: (A) Flashing signs; (B) Billboards; (C) Pole signs; (D) Portable signs; (E) Roof signs; (F) Searchlights; ... (I) Signs of a size, location, movement, coloring, or manner of illumination that may cause confusion for drivers because of the sign's similarity to a traffic control device or that hides any traffic or street sign or signal from view; (J) Strings of lights or any illuminated tubing outlining property lines, outdoor display areas, and features of buildings and structures, such as roof lines, doors, edges of signs, and windows. However, sign users may display strings of lights and illuminated tubing for one consecutive 60-day period each year.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-49: Supplement contains: Local legislation current through Ord. 3925, passed 6-16-25).
Full Breakdown
York County does not regulate billboard lighting as a stand-alone brightness or hours ordinance; it regulates it through the sign code's ban on new billboards and a general lighting exemption. 938 repeats the ban directly: "a person may not construct, install, operate, display, or use a new billboard," while allowing sign users to maintain billboards that already existed when the sign part was adopted as a nonconforming use, with strict limits on enlarging, relocating, or rebuilding them after 50%-plus damage. Because new billboards cannot be built at all, any lighting question is really about the lighting on existing, nonconforming billboards.
882, the outdoor lighting part's exemptions section, states that if fixtures are fully shielded, "new lighting used for the principal purpose of illuminating signs" is exempt from the county's Part 7 outdoor lighting design and illumination-level standards, meaning a nonconforming billboard's lighting does not have to meet the countywide foot-candle and fixture-shielding rules that apply to parking lots and building exteriors. 932(J) bars strings of lights or illuminated tubing outlining a sign's edges outside a single 60-day display window each year. Unsafe or damaged billboard lighting or structure is also independently enforceable by the Building Official under Chapter 150's building code.
Violations & Fines
Constructing a new billboard, or lighting an existing billboard in a manner that confuses drivers or violates the illuminated-tubing limit, is a violation under § 155.1236. The Zoning Administrator sends written notice by certified mail and, if the sign user does not correct or remove it within 30 days, the county may remove the illegal billboard itself and bill the owner for removal costs; continuing violations are misdemeanors carrying a fine of up to $500 per day under § 155.9999.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone build a new lit billboard in unincorporated York County?
Do York County's general outdoor lighting rules apply to billboard lighting?
Are there any limits on how a billboard can be lit in York County?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in York County
Compare York County to another location·View the South Carolina outdoor lighting overview
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