Asheville, NC Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- New digital billboards
- Prohibited citywide
- Existing permitted digital billboards
- Grandfathered, cannot be replaced/relocated
- Variance available
- No, board lacks authority
- Governing section
- City Code Section 7-13-3(19)
- General off-premises sign ban
- Most districts under Section 7-13-3(6)-(9)
Summary
Asheville outright bars new digital off-premises signs, the technical name for billboards that aren't advertising the business on whose lot they sit. Section 7-13-3(19) prohibits any digital, non-conforming, off-premises sign citywide, and even a legally permitted digital billboard that predates the ban can be kept only as-is: it can never be replaced or relocated.
The following signs and/or sign features shall not be erected or maintained in any zoning district within the planning and regulation jurisdiction of the City of Asheville. The board of adjustment shall not have the authority to grant variances so as to allow prohibited signs to be installed. ... (19) Non-conforming, off-premises signs - Digital. Digital, non-conforming, off-premises signs are prohibited within the City of Asheville's jurisdiction. Any existing digital, non-conforming, off-premises sign that was properly permitted may be maintained as a non-conforming sign but may not be replaced or relocated.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-5: Contains Supplement, current through Ordinance 5245, passed 7-28-2026 | State legislation current through 2025 A.L.S. #3).
Full Breakdown
Off-premises signs, meaning billboards that advertise a business, product, or service located somewhere other than the lot the sign sits on, are already barred from most of the city under Section 7-13-3(6) through (9): single-family residential districts, the Office, Office Business, Community Business I, Neighborhood Business and Central Business Districts, national and local historic districts and properties, any street the city council has designated a scenic drive or parkway, and any location within 660 feet of the federal-aid primary or interstate highway system. " Electronic message signage is not banned outright everywhere in Asheville, but Section 7-2-5 confines it to marquee signs advertising a theater, auditorium, fairground, or museum, and even those digital marquees are barred from residential districts and, in the Central Business District, are subject to added standards limiting how much digital display area is allowed.
Violations & Fines
Erecting, maintaining, or replacing a prohibited digital off-premises sign is a zoning violation enforceable under Chapter 7's general penalty at Section 7-18-2(b)(1): $100.00 per day for each day the violation continues, recoverable by the city as a civil debt, on top of any order to remove or bring the sign into conformance. Because the Board of Adjustment cannot grant a variance for a prohibited sign, there is no administrative appeal path around the ban itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put up a new digital billboard in Asheville?
What happens to a digital billboard that already existed before the ban?
Are electronic message signs allowed anywhere in Asheville?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Asheville
Compare Asheville to another location·View the North Carolina sign regulations overview
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