Aiken County, SC Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

" The definition draws a hard line at message-change speed: content that changes statically more than once every 10 seconds without flashing, scrolling or animation still counts as this static-message sign type, but anything faster, or anything that flashes or scrolls, is reclassified as an "animated sign," a separate and more restricted category under the same article. The code is explicit that images shown through electronic or digital technology on these signs "must be static messages" and that the content "shall not include animated, flashing, scrolling, or full-motion video elements," which rules out video billboards, scrolling tickers and animated transitions outright.

On brightness, every digital business sign must have a working method, either an automatic dimmer with a photo cell sensor or computerized controls, for holding illumination to no more than 7,500 nits (candelas per square meter) during daylight hours and no more than 500 nits between dusk and dawn, measured at the sign face, so the sign does not glare or impair a driver's vision. Because this rule lives in the zoning chapter's general sign definitions rather than a stand-alone permit section, an electronic message board still has to meet the underlying freestanding or building-sign area, height and setback limits set out for its zoning district in Table 6 of Chapter 24 before it can be installed. 22.