(A) Subject to the restrictions of this subchapter, non-conforming signs that were otherwise lawful on the effective date of this chapter may be continued.
(B) No person may engage in any activity that causes an increase in the extent of non-conformity of a non-conforming sign or causes a previously conforming sign to become non-conforming.
(C) A non-conforming sign may not be moved or replaced, except to bring the sign into complete conformity with this chapter. Once a non-conforming sign is removed from the premises or otherwise taken down or moved, said sign may only be replaced with a sign which is in conformance with the terms of this chapter.
(D) Minor repairs and maintenance of non-conforming signs necessary to keep a non-conforming sign in sound condition are permitted. If repair or maintenance of a non-conforming sign results in the removal of the sign frame structure for any length of time, the replaced sign frame structure and any copy placed on it shall be in conformance with this chapter.
(E) If a non-conforming sign is destroyed by natural causes, it may not thereafter be repaired, reconstructed or replaced, except in conformity with all the provisions of this chapter, and the remnants of the former sign structure shall be cleared from the land. For purposes of this section, a non-conforming sign shall be considered “destroyed” if it receives damage to an extent of more than 60% of the cost of replacing the sign copy. A special exception could be sought for a particular historic sign as contained in division (K) below.
(F) Notwithstanding other provisions contained in this section, the message of a non-conforming sign may be changed so long as this does not create any new non-conformities.
(G) (1) If a non-conforming sign which advertises a business, service, commodity, accommodation, attraction or other enterprise or activity that is no longer operating or being offered or conducted, that sign shall be deemed abandoned and shall be removed or brought into compliance by the sign owner, property owner or other party having control over such sign within 30 days after the use has ceased operation or the service or commodity has ceased being offered.
(2) If there is a change of use or name of business on a particular piece of property, and there were one or more on-premises signs which advertised the business, any new signs placed for the new use or business name must meet all sign requirements for the underlying zoning district. An example of this is as follows: a restaurant has an on-premises free-standing sign having an area of 140 square feet. The maximum allowable area for said sign in that particular zoning district is 100 square feet. If said restaurant ceases operation and is replaced by another principal use or by another restaurant (either of which uses new sign structures), any new free-standing sign advertising the new principal use or business name shall have a maximum area of 100 square feet. If the same sign structure used to advertise the former restaurant is used to advertise the new use, said sign structure may remain.
(H) If a non-conforming sign remains blank for a continuous period of six months, that sign shall be deemed abandoned and shall, within 30 days after such abandonment, be altered to comply with this chapter or be removed by the sign owner, owner of the property where the sign is located, or other person having control over such sign. For purposes of this chapter, a sign shall be deemed “blank” if:
(1) It advertises a business, service, commodity, accommodations, attraction or other enterprise or activity that is no longer operating or being offered or conducted;
(2) The advertising message it displays becomes illegible in whole or substantial part; or
(3) It does not contain an advertising message. (For such purposes, the terms “Sign For Rent”, “Sign For Lease”, “Sign For Sale” and the like shall not be deemed to be an advertising message.)
(I) (1) Any non-conforming advertising sign which is located in a residential (R-A, R-20, R-10) zoning district shall be removed within seven years following the effective date of this chapter, except as provided in division (J) below. Any such sign which becomes non-conforming due to its location within a particular residential (R-A, R-20, R-10) district after the effective date of this chapter (due to a subsequent change in the zoning map) shall be removed within seven years following the date the sign becomes non- conforming, except as provided in division (J) below.
(2) All other advertising signs which are non-conforming by virtue of their height, setback, spacing (i.e., distance between two advertising signs) or location in a zoning district other than a residential (R-A, R-20, R-10) district, shall not be required to be removed and may continue subject to all other applicable portions of this subchapter.
(J) G.S. § 136-131.1 requires that “just compensation” be paid upon removal of certain outdoor advertising signs adjacent to the highway on the national system of interstate and defense highways or a highway on the federal-aid primary highway system for which a valid permit has been issued. Division (I) above shall not require that any sign be removed if compensation must be paid upon removal of such sign due to any state or federal law that mandates such form of “just compensation” upon removal. Should any such state or federal requirement become inoperative or otherwise fail to apply to a given sign, then such sign shall be removed within five and one-half years of such state or federal requirement becoming inoperative or otherwise failing to apply to such sign.
(Ord. passed - -, § 6.8)