Granville County, NC Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

The county's Land Development Code treats political signs as a category of "temporary noncommercial (including political) signs" under the exemptions listed in Sec. 32-496 of Article VII (Signs). Because they are exempt rather than banned, no zoning permit or fee is required to post one on private property in unincorporated Granville County, but the three numeric limits in subsection (5) still apply: 16 square feet per face, an eight-foot maximum height when freestanding, and a 60-day-per-year display cap. Sec. 32-495(6), the article's general prohibition on signs on otherwise vacant land, expressly carves out "political or election campaign signs" from that prohibition, confirming candidates and committees may place them on vacant lots as well as improved property.

Development Services, through the land development administrator, enforces the sign article; Sec. 32-521 lets that office order repair or removal of a noncompliant sign within 14 days of written notice. Because Article VII sets no sign-specific penalty, Sec. 1-6's countywide default applies: a violation carries a civil penalty pursued by citation, and only a willful failure to pay an imposed civil penalty escalates to a misdemeanor under G.S. 14-4, punishable by a fine of $500.00 or 30 days in jail, or both. Each day a violation continues is a separate offense under the same section.

Signs must still meet the article's general standards in Sec. 32-494, including the five-foot setback from the street right-of-way and the ban on attaching signs to trees or utility poles, which apply to political signs the same as any other sign type.