Wicomico County, MD Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Wicomico County Code § 225-126, Outdoor advertising structures, is the billboard chapter of the zoning code. Subsection A prohibits any outdoor advertising structure within 660 feet of the right-of-way line of six named primary federal-aid highway segments: both directions of US Route 50 near Salisbury and toward the Worcester County line, US Route 13 South toward Somerset County, the US Route 13 Bypass, Maryland Route 12 (Snow Hill Road) and the US Route 50 Bypass. Outside that 660-foot corridor, Subsection B requires a sign permit from the Wicomico County Building Inspector before any outdoor advertising structure goes up, and imposes a bundle of physical standards: a 100-foot setback from the property line facing a public road, or 150 feet from the road's center line, whichever is greater; a minimum 2,000-foot spacing from the next nearest billboard; a 300-square-foot cap on each sign face with trim no more than 10 inches wide; a bar on erecting a sign within 100 feet of a dwelling in an adjacent residential district if the sign would be visible from that dwelling; and a 30-foot maximum structure height.

Structures lawfully in place when the chapter took effect but that no longer conform become legal nonconforming structures rather than being forced into immediate compliance.