Whitfield County, GA Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Section 16-2 defines an electronic message board as a type of sign which presents its message through illumination of flashing, intermittent, or moving lights forming the letters, numbers, or symbols of the message, whether or not the message appears to move across the sign face. Section 16-3(2) opens with a blanket ban on flashing signs but carves out a single exception for electronic message boards, the only sign type in unincorporated Whitfield County allowed to flash or scroll. That same subsection takes the benefit back in residential settings: subsection (k) prohibits erecting any electronic message board within a residential zoning district as those districts are defined in the Unified Zoning Ordinance (Appendix A), effectively making digital displays a commercial and industrial-district sign type (C-1, C-2, M-1, M-2 and similar districts).

Where a digital board is allowed, it must still clear every other Chapter 16 hurdle: a permit under Section 16-6 if the sign face is 40 square feet or larger, the ten-foot right-of-way setback and 15-foot intersection clearance of Section 16-3(1)(e), the ban on obstructing a driver's view of oncoming traffic or traffic-control devices, and the sign-area caps for freestanding signs in whichever zoning district the board sits in. The Whitfield County Engineer, as zoning administrator under Section 16-6, issues the permit and can order removal of a noncompliant board.