Sampson County, NC Solar Energy: Panel Permits (2026)

Sec. 2-28-06 of the 2025 Revised Zoning Ordinance states that, acting under G.S. 160D-914(b), Sampson County reserves the right to only permit accessory solar panels to be roof mounted structures and not stand-alone structures in any portion of the parcel's yard area. That single rule does two things: it forecloses ground-mounted or pole-mounted solar arrays as an accessory use anywhere on a residential or agricultural lot, and it confines a legal installation to the roof of an existing structure. Sec. 2-18-02(B), the zoning ordinance's general permit-application section, separately lists roof-mounted solar panels among the development types that do not need a Zoning Permit at all, alongside fences, driveways and sidewalks, because the ordinance's Accessory Structure definition excludes them.

A property owner therefore still needs a building permit through Sampson County Building Inspections for the electrical and structural work, but does not need to go through the Zoning Officer's site plan review that applies to accessory structures generally under Sec. 2-28-09. Because the ordinance forecloses free-standing panels entirely, there is no site-plan pathway, variance, or special-use route in the code to approve a ground-mounted array as an accessory use; only a use listed elsewhere in the Table of Uses, such as a Solar Farm, can put solar equipment directly on the ground.