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

5 permits outdoor advertising (billboard) signs only in the RA, HB, L-IN, and H-IN zoning districts, subject to North Carolina Department of Transportation standards. Standalone billboards cannot exceed 450 square feet of sign face or 50 feet in height, must sit at least five feet from any property line, and are barred from double-decker or side-by-side stacked faces. 5(B)(6) and (7) require a minimum 500-foot setback from any park, school, church, or navigable body of water, 250 feet from any residential structure, and 1,000 feet of separation from any other off-premises billboard, measured radially between the nearest points of each sign.

3 foot-candles above ambient light, measured at a distance calculated from the sign's square footage. Before permitting, the applicant must submit a signed letter from the sign manufacturer confirming the unit can meet these settings and a signed letter from the sign owner or operator agreeing not to tamper with the manufacturer's preset illumination. Illumination on any billboard must also be shielded from casting light above the sign's top line, a rule the code ties directly to protecting flight operations from Albert J. Ellis Airport and from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River, though the county ordinance itself governs only the billboard's placement off-base in the unincorporated county.