Cabarrus County, NC Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Section 11-12 of the Cabarrus County Development Ordinance, 'Signs That Do Not Require a Permit,' exempts window signs from the County's sign permit process as long as they comply with the section's size condition. The rule covers any sign placed or painted on the interior or exterior of glass windows or doors, capping total coverage at 25 percent of the glass area of the entire storefront, not just a single pane, so a business with several display windows must measure coverage across the whole frontage rather than window by window.

The Ordinance is explicit about what happens past that line: a window display exceeding 25 percent coverage is no longer treated as an exempt window sign at all, it shall be considered as a wall sign and shall meet requirements for wall signs within the appropriate zoning district, meaning it then needs a permit and must fit within Table 11-1's wall sign area, height, and placement limits for that parcel's zoning district. Section 11-12 also notes that permit-exempt signs like these are not counted toward a site's total allowable sign area calculation, but an oversized window sign that also fails to meet wall sign standards is treated as a prohibited sign subject to the rest of Chapter 11's enforcement provisions rather than simply as an oversized exempt sign.

Businesses along retail corridors in the unincorporated county rely on this 25 percent threshold to advertise sales or hours in storefront glass without triggering a separate permit application or fee to the Planning and Development Department.