Lee County, NC Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

UDO § 11.9 sets Lee County's rules for outdoor advertising, the off-premises billboard signs typically aimed at highway traffic passing through the county. Section 11.9.1 prohibits outdoor advertising billboard signs entirely within the City of Sanford and the Town of Broadway, so any billboard along a highway corridor is only possible once outside those municipal limits, in the unincorporated area the county itself zones. For unincorporated Lee County, § 11.9.2 permits outdoor advertising signs, defined as off-premises signs, only in the Highway Commercial, Light Industrial, and Heavy Industrial zoning districts, the districts most likely to front the county's arterial corridors such as US-1.

Even within those districts, billboards cannot be located within 100 feet of any residential zoning district, and no two outdoor advertising signs can be erected within 1,000 linear feet of each other, preventing a cluster of billboards along a single stretch of road. The section also blocks a billboard from advertising a business located within 100 feet of the sign itself, counting that business's structures and off-street parking area toward the 100-foot measurement, which is meant to separate off-premises advertising from on-premises identification signage. Dimensionally, no outdoor advertising sign can exceed 300 square feet of sign area, regardless of district.

Because billboards are off-premises signs, they still require a sign permit under § 11.3 and count toward the department of community development's review of siting, spacing, and size before a permit is issued; an unpermitted billboard or one exceeding these limits is treated as a prohibited sign under the article's general framework.