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

Chapter 11's Ground Signs section, § 11-16, treats digital and reader-board displays as a feature layered onto an otherwise conventional monument or pylon sign rather than as their own sign category. The Ordinance defines an Electronic Message Board as a sign which displays messages in alternating light cycles, distinct from a Changeable Copy Sign, where the message is changed manually in the field through attachment of letters, numbers, symbols and other similar characters. Section 11-16 allows either type of face on a ground sign, but limits the changeable copy or electronic message board area to no more than 50 percent of the total area of the sign face, meaning a fully digital billboard-style ground sign is not permitted; at least half of the face must remain static.

2 to determine which zoning districts allow changeable copy and electronic message boards in the first place, so the 50 percent cap only applies where the district table permits digital faces at all. The same Ground Signs section layers on other siting rules that apply to any sign carrying a digital face: a 30-square-foot landscaped bed around ground-mounted signs in parking or vehicular use areas, a minimum 50-foot spacing from any existing ground-mounted sign, and a limit of one ground sign per street frontage on lots with at least 100 feet of frontage width.

Chapter 11 was last amended October 17, 2016, and permits for signs with an electronic message board component, like all sign permits under § 11-9, remain valid for up to six months before requiring renewal at the original permit cost.