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

Surry County Code § 154.016-10(A) limits billboards to nine specific roadways: I-77, I-74, US 52, US 601, US 21, NC 268, NC 89, NC 103 and NC 104, and bars them from the Thoroughfare Overlay and Scenic Byway Overlay districts and any state-designated Scenic Byway. No billboard, digital or otherwise, may be erected in an RA, RE, RR, RG, RL, RI, CP, MHP, RB or TO zoning district; new billboards, including electronic-messaging billboards, are permitted only as a special use in the CB, HB and MI districts.

A billboard must sit at least 100 feet from any residential dwelling, 30 feet from any property line or street right-of-way, and no closer than 2,000 feet to another billboard along the same road frontage, measured pole to pole. Section 154.016-10(B) sets size and height: billboards along I-77, I-74 and US 52 top out at 600 square feet of gross display area, while those along the other six listed routes are capped at 300 square feet; no billboard, including a two-sided 'V' shaped sign of 45 degrees or less, may exceed 35 feet in height from ground level or 50 feet from street level, whichever is lower.

An electronic-messaging billboard goes through the same special use permit process as any other billboard before the Board of Adjustment, with NCDOT sign approval required before the county will accept a completed application. Enforcement of the location, district and size limits runs through the general zoning penalty in § 154.005-11: a warning citation, then escalating civil fines.