County staff proposes maintenance update to sign ordinance to add digital rules and clarify nonconforming signs

New Hanover County planning staff presented a maintenance update to the county—s sign regulations that would add explicit rules for digital signs, clarify how the ordinance is applied and make the standards content-neutral.

The proposal, summarized by Rebecca (planning staff), would preserve current size and height limits while adding distinct illumination and operational rules for electronic changeable copy. "What we have prepared for your consideration on Monday is just a maintenance update to our current sign regulations," Rebecca said, explaining staff had reorganized and clarified language and added provisions specific to digital signs.

The change responds to repeated questions from businesses, residents and the sign industry about how current standards apply to newer technologies. Rebecca told the board staff had worked with the county attorney and had aligned the rewrite with state law and accepted legal principles about sign regulation: "One of the other major provisions... is making sure that our sign standards are considered to be content neutral.…