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

Section 12-282(6) of the Unified Development Ordinance's sign article allows an off-premise sign, commonly a billboard, to be lighted or luminous, but flatly conditions that on the illumination not being flashing, intermittent, or moving. Paired with the same section's message-board limits, an off-premise sign is capped at 325 square feet of display area per side (400 square feet along an interstate), and where two message boards face the same side they cannot exceed a combined 325 or 400 square feet, must sit no more than three feet apart vertically and two feet horizontally, or the structure is treated as a single sign.

The static-message rule extends to nonconforming signs too: section 12-284(a) bars adding any illumination to a nonconforming sign, and if a nonconforming sign is destroyed to the extent that repair or replacement costs equal or exceed half its tax value, it cannot be rebuilt except in full conformity with the article, meaning a nonconforming billboard cannot be converted into a flashing or moving digital display through repair. A billboard requires a permit from the administrator issued under the same procedures as a zoning permit, per section 12-281(b).