Gordon County, GA Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Article II of Chapter 13 in the Gordon County Code of Ordinances, Interstate Sign Regulation, applies to all outdoor advertising signs abutting or visible from the Interstate 75 right-of-way in the county (§ 13-26(a)). No sign can be erected or maintained unless it complies. Signs must be built of durable materials, kept in good condition, and not be allowed to become dilapidated. Every sign on a site abutting or visible from I-75 must conform to O.C.G.A. § 32-6-70 et seq., the Georgia outdoor advertising code, and meet the federal and state requirements for a permit under it. Where the article's controls are more strict, the article applies.

Section 13-27 lists prohibited signs: signs imitating warning signals, including lights resembling traffic signals or emergency vehicle lights and the words, shapes, or colors of governmental traffic signs; signs in a street or highway right-of-way other than traffic signs and public agency informational signs; signs painted or attached to trees, rocks, telephone poles, utility poles, or fence posts; fluttering ribbons and banners; and signs within 300 feet of an officially designated historical site or monument, except signs pertaining to that site.

The same article sets physical standards. Only one roof sign structure is allowed per building, and it cannot extend more than 25 feet above the roof (§ 13-31). Wall signs cannot exceed 25 percent of the front surface or 50 percent of a side or rear surface (§ 13-32). Illumination must be placed and shielded so light is not cast into a residential district, sleeping rooms, or drivers' eyes (§ 13-33). Nonconforming signs stay until the state department of transportation or the county buys them (§ 13-36).

Article I adds a siting rule for billboards in § 13-10(h): off-premises signs visible from the main traveled way of I-75 go only in a quadrant or extended quadrant, within a 2,035-foot stretch beginning 500 feet from where the pavement widens for the ramp, and no more than four such signs can exceed 70 feet in height. The Unified Land Development Code separately caps signs on I-75 facing building walls at 25 percent of the wall (§ 5.04.05(C)(6)).