Nassau County, FL Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Section 30.03 of the Land Development Code lists prohibited signs for all unincorporated land in Nassau County, and two of its clauses eliminate freeway-facing billboard advertising as a use. Subsection (J) prohibits billboards by name, with no size or district exception carved out elsewhere in the article. Subsection (K) separately prohibits "off-premise signs," the broader category that covers any sign advertising a business, product or activity not located on the same parcel as the sign, which is exactly the model a freeway billboard depends on.

Subsection (I) reinforces the ban along road corridors by prohibiting any sign in a public right-of-way unless a government entity placed it there for traffic control, public safety or wayfinding purposes. Together the three clauses mean a landowner along a state highway or interstate frontage road in unincorporated Nassau County cannot lease space for an off-site advertising sign, no matter how the structure is built or how far it sits from the road. The prohibition applies countywide except where an overlay district, such as the William Burgess Mixed Use Activity Center Overlay or the Amelia Island Resort Overlay, adopts its own separate signage regulations under § 30.02; those overlays govern lighting, illumination and character rather than reopening the billboard ban.

The current version of the section was adopted by Ordinance No. 2025-020 on July 28, 2025, replacing the county's older sign ordinance, and it is administered by the Planning and Economic Opportunity Department alongside the Building Department, which issues ground-sign permits for on-premise signage that remains allowed.