Surry County, NC Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Surry County Code § 154.016-07(A)(3) lists yard or garage sale signs, together with off-premises directional signs pointing to them, among the temporary signs the county allows, alongside real estate signs, construction site identification signs, grand-opening signs, campaign signs, and auction signs capped at 24 square feet and five feet in height. Subsection (B) sets the one hard deadline that applies to all of these temporary signs, including garage sale signs: they must be removed within seven days from the day the sale or event the sign was built for ends.

The county's general sign exemptions in § 154.016-05 separately cover unlighted identification, no-trespassing and directional signage that never needed review in the first place, but yard sale signage is handled specifically as a temporary sign under § 154.016-07 rather than as a blanket exemption. A resident who wants an off-premises directional sign pointing buyers to the sale gets the same seven-day removal window. Placement is still bound by the county's general sign-location rules in § 154.016-11, which keep all signs on private property, at least ten feet from any public right-of-way and 15 feet from any property line, and forbid attaching a sign to a utility pole, light standard or tree.

A sign left up past the seven-day limit, or one placed in the right-of-way, is enforced the same way as any other zoning violation, through the Building Inspector or Zoning Administrator under § 154.016-13 and § 154.005-11.