1117.01 Purpose.
1117.02 Applicability.
1117.03 Prohibited sign types.
1117.04 Calculation and measurements.
1117.05 General regulations.
1117.06 Signs permitted in PD Districts.
1117.07 Permanent signs in residential districts.
1117.08 Signs in nonresidential districts.
1117.09 Temporary signs.
1117.10 Nonconforming, illegal, and unsafe signs.
It is the purpose of this chapter to establish reasonable regulations which preserve the public health, safety, convenience, comfort, prosperity and general welfare of the public, while protecting each person's constitutional right to freedom of speech, as indicated by the following objectives:
(a) To prohibit signs which pose an unreasonable risk to the public safety;
(b) To limit the visual dominance of signs without unconstitutionally restricting the information conveyed;
(c) To preserve the noncommercial character of residential neighborhoods and to provide reasonable, yet appropriate conditions, for identifying businesses and services rendered in nonresidential districts;
(d) To control the design of signs so that their appearance shall be aesthetically harmonious with an overall urban design for the area;
(e) To promote traffic safety by preventing obstructions within public rights-of-way, minimizing visual distractions to motorists, ensuring that sign size and height are appropriate to their location and preventing conflicts with public safety signs and police and fire protection; and
(f) To allow for more desirable developments and economic activity in accordance with the objectives of adopted village plans.
The Village does not intend to infringe on the rights of free speech as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, §11 of the Ohio Constitution. All regulations in this chapter are to be construed, whenever necessary to preserve the purpose and intent, in a manner consistent with the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
(Ord. 2023-16. Passed 6-5-23.)
(a) It shall hereafter be unlawful for any person to erect, place, relocate, expand, modify, maintain or otherwise alter a sign in the Village except in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(b) Unless otherwise provided, this chapter shall apply to any sign over which the Village has authority to regulate. Additionally, this chapter shall apply to any sign, in any zoning district, that is visible from the public right-of-way or from property other than the property on which the sign is located.
(c) Any sign already established on the effective date of this chapter or future amendment thereto, and which sign is rendered nonconforming by the provisions herein, shall be subject to the nonconforming sign regulations of Section 1117.10.
(d) All signs shall require the issuance of a zoning certificate unless otherwise noted below or as specifically stated in other sections of this chapter.
(e) Zoning Certificate Exemptions. The following signs are subject to the requirements of this chapter and are allowed in all districts but do not require a zoning certificate.
(1) Signs and/or notices issued by any court, officer or other person in performance of a public duty. Any such sign shall be removed no later than seven days after the last day it is required to be displayed;
(2) Signs that are an integral part of the original construction of vending or similar machines, fuel pumps, automated teller machines, or similar devices that are not of a size or design as to be visible from a street or by any person other than those using the machine or device;
(3) Any sign that is located completely inside a building and that is not visible from the exterior (See also the definition of "window sign".);
(4) Signs that are located within a stadium, open-air theater, park, arena or other outdoor use that are not intended to be visible from a public right-of-way or adjacent property, and can be viewed only by persons within such stadium, open-air theater, park, arena or other outdoor use;
(6) Sign face changes where the sign structure is designed with interchangeable panels and where such sign panel change does not alter the sign structure;
(7) Changes of sign copy on signs with changeable copy (e.g., reader boards and electronic message centers);
(8) A single wall sign, mounted flush on the facade of an individual dwelling unit, that is not illuminated and does not exceed two (2) square feet in area;
(9) Any sign on a truck, bus or other vehicle that is used in the normal course of a business (e.g., deliveries or fleet vehicles for contractors), for transportation (See also Section 1117.03 for prohibitions on signs on vehicles.), or signage required by the State or Federal government;
(10) Signs installed or required by a governmental agency including the Village of Centerburg, Knox County, the State of Ohio, and the United States, including local and regional transit agencies;
(11) Any warning signs or traffic safety signs required by public entities;
(12) Hand-held signs not set on or affixed to the ground;
(13) Address numbers required by the Village of Centerburg, the Central Ohio Joint Fire District, or the U.S. Post Office with the following standards:
A. The numerical address of the building shall be provided in Arabic numbers not less than four inches in height.
B. The color of the numbers shall contrast to the color of the surface on which they are mounted and the numbers shall be clearly visible from the street on which the building is numbered.
C. The numbers shall be placed on the front of the building facing the street on which the building is numbered.
D. For buildings not having entrance doors facing the street on which the buildings are numbered, numbers of all units within such building shall be placed either on the wall of the building facing the street on which the building is numbered or on a sign in compliance with this chapter.
E. The owner of any building may post additional sets of address numbers provided that one set complies with the provision of this section.
(14) Any signs, including illuminated signs, or related decorations erected in observance of religious, national or state holidays which are not intended to be permanent in nature and which contain no advertising material and which are not erected for more than ninety (90) days in any calendar year; and
(15) General maintenance, painting, repainting, cleaning and other normal maintenance and repair of a sign or any sign structure unless a structural change is made.
(Ord. 2023-16. Passed 6-5-23.)
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