Gaston County, NC Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

3(E) generally prohibits flashing signs, signs with flashing or reflective disks, signs with lights of changing intensity or color, and signs with scrolled messages, but expressly exempts 'light emitting diode (LED) signs with electronically scrolled messages' along with government traffic signs and time-and-temperature signs. That carve-out then imposes seven numbered conditions before an LED scrolling sign, the closest analog in the code to a digital billboard, is allowed. Each message must remain static for a minimum of eight seconds, and no more than two seconds may elapse in transition between messages.

The message area cannot exceed 50 percent of the total sign face, and the display itself cannot be flashing, intermittent, moving, scrolling or animated in its transitions, meaning only the underlying message content changes. Every qualifying sign must include a default design that freezes it in one position if it malfunctions, closing off the failure mode where a broken sign strobes indefinitely. Brightness is capped at a maximum of 5,000 nits during daylight hours, and drops to a maximum luminance of 750 candela per square meter (nits) beginning one half hour before sunset and continuing until sunrise, both measured using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sunrise/sunset data for Gaston County's location and date.

Any qualifying sign along a state-maintained roadway must additionally satisfy North Carolina Department of Transportation regulations. 3 and cannot be installed regardless of size or district. The standard applies only within unincorporated Gaston County.