York County, SC Special Events & Permits: Commercial Filming on Public Right-of-Way (2026)

718-1 lists "Commercial Filming and Film Production Activities" and "Special Events" as two separate temporary-use rows with different rules: filming needs zoning compliance with no maximum duration in all districts, while a special event on private property is capped at five consecutive days per event, up to four events per calendar year and no more than ten total event days per year, and a special event on public property is capped at three consecutive days per event, up to two events per year, limited to public facilities and rights-of-way.

The Land Development Code defines a SPECIAL EVENT as "an educational, recreational, cultural, or social occurrence open to the general public and designed to attract more than 100 attendees or participants," with festivals, fairs, carnivals, races, parades, art shows and concerts as examples. 7. 751 requires an event plan filed with the zoning compliance application describing the event and its activities, estimating attendance, and detailing an emergency access and public safety plan plus coordination letters from agencies such as the Sheriff's Office, Fire Safety, SCDHEC, or a sanitation company as applicable.

752 requires Board of Zoning Appeals special exception approval, good for a single event only, for any special event expected to draw 500 or more attendees, plus a mandatory pre-application meeting with staff. 753 requires an executed York County Venue Agreement before zoning compliance approval for any special event on public property or in a public right-of-way, though county-sponsored events on county property are excused from that requirement.