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

S. 70 and I-95 corridors, are covered by the standards in § 14-514(b), which apply whenever a sign is replaced, substantially replaced, or repaired past 50 percent of its current assessed value. Subsection (9) flatly bars any changing billboard, rotating slat panel, or other means of creating a movable message display, which forecloses digital or LED billboard faces that cycle through advertising copy. The same standards cap a monopole-style billboard at 500 square feet of display area and a non-monopole design at 300 square feet, with a maximum height of 20 feet and length of 50 feet, and limit each structure to one face per side.

Before any qualifying sign can be built or replaced, the owner needs a permit from the planning director, who reviews a sign plan for location, size, height and style, and the applicant separately needs a state Department of Transportation district engineer's permit under the Outdoor Advertising Act of 1967. The planning director can revoke a sign's permit for a list of specific reasons, including any alteration that would make the structure fail to comply with the Outdoor Advertising Control Act, so converting a static billboard face into a rotating or digital display after the fact is itself a revocable act, not just a construction-stage rule.