The following permanent signs are permitted on property in all Commercial (C) and Industrial (I) Districts, provided that no sign, other than an electronic message board sign which shall be restricted and regulated in accordance with the provisions of division (e) below, shall be located closer than 25 feet from any lot located in any R or A-O-C District.
(a) Such signs as may be appropriate to any church, school, religious, public, quasi-public or educational institution building for the purpose of displaying the name and activities therein. Such signs, limited to three in number, may take the form of a building mounted sign, a free-standing sign or a projecting sign in accordance with the provisions of divisions (b), (c) or (d) below.
(b) One building mounted sign may be erected which advertises an industrial activity, business or service conducted upon the premises and/or advertises products, merchandise or commodities produced, stocked and/or sold on the premises. Such sign shall be affixed flat against the wall of a building and shall not project therefrom more than one foot. No such sign shall extend beyond the width or height of the wall to which it is attached. The sign shall not exceed 50 square feet or 10% of the area of the face of the building to which the sign is affixed, whichever is the larger. The sign shall not exceed 100 square feet in any case.
(c) One free-standing sign which advertises an industrial activity, business or service conducted upon the premises and/or advertises products, merchandise or commodities produced, stocked and/or sold on the premises shall be permitted, provided that such sign conforms to the following requirements:
(1) The allowable area of any sign may be one-half of the total front footage of the lot up to a 150-foot frontage (75 square feet maximum);
(2) The maximum height of any sign at the setback line shall be 25 feet, but may be increased one foot in height for every five feet of setback from the setback line. No sign shall exceed 35 feet in height;
(3) No portion of any sign shall be located closer than ten feet from any right-of-way line;
(4) The area of a sign may be increased one square foot for every one foot from the setback line. No sign shall exceed 100 square feet in area; and
(5) The additional height and area allowances made in divisions (c)(2) and (c)(4) hereof apply only if the sign is placed in the center one-third of the lot frontage. If a sign is placed outside the center one-third of the lot frontage, the size of the sign shall be reduced by 50% of the permitted size.
(d) One projecting sign advertising an industrial activity, business or service conducted upon the premises and/or advertising products, merchandise or commodities produced, stocked and/or sold upon the premises is permitted, which sign shall not extend into the public right-of-way used by vehicular traffic. The sign shall not exceed 20 square feet in area and shall be constructed and erected so that the lowest portion thereof is not less than eight feet above the finished grade.
(e) Changeable copy sign.
(1) Any of the signs allowed in accordance with the provisions of divisions (a), (b), (c), or (d) above may take the form of a changeable copy sign which advertises an industrial activity, business or service conducted upon the premises and/or advertises products, services, merchandise or commodities produced, stocked and/or sold upon the premises and shall be permitted so long as the sign conforms to all other sign regulations set forth in this code. Said changeable copy sign may also display other pertinent information such as civic announcements, time/temperature, and/or patriotic and like messages.
(2) The message, display or content of a changeable copy sign may be manually changed or changed by means of remote electronically energized on-off switching combinations of alphabetic or pictographic components arranged on a display surface. Illumination may be integral to the components, such as characterized by lamps or other light emitting devices, or it may be from an external light source designed to reflect off the changeable component display. (These electronically energized signs shall be known as electronic message board signs.)
(3) The message area of an electronic message board sign may be illuminated by incandescent lamps, a light emitting diode (LED) or magnetic discs. Regardless of the light source, undue brightness is prohibited. For the purpose of enforcing this provision “undue brightness” will be construed to mean illumination of a white portion of the sign in excess of the intensity levels specified as day: 5,000 NITS; night: 1,000 NITS. NITS is a standard of LED display manufactures and means brightness per square meter.
(4) To ensure compliance with provision, the sign must have an automatic phased proportional dimmer, which must be used to reduce the nighttime brightness levels (compared to daytime levels). Further, prior to issuance of a permit for an electronic message board sign, the applicant shall provide written certification from the sign manufacturer that the light intensity has been factory pre-set not to exceed the levels specified above, and the intensity level is protected from end-user manipulation by pass word protected software or other method as deemed appropriate by the Planning Commission. All electronic message board signs shall have adjustment via software photocell or traditional photocell hardware.
(5) Changeable copy sign displays shall be limited to static displays or messages that appear or disappear from the display through dissolve, fade or scroll modes or similar transitions and frame effects that have text or images that appear to move or change in size, or the appearance of optical illusion of movement, of any part of the sign structure, design or pictorial segment of the sign, including movement of any illumination or the flashing, scintillating or varying of light intensity. With regard to changeable copy sign displays, the following terms shall be accordingly defined:
A. “Dissolve” means a mode of message transition on an electronic message display accomplished by varying the light intensity or pattern, where the first message gradually appears to dissipate and lose legibility simultaneous with the gradual appearance and legibility of the second message.
B. “Fade” means a mode of message transition on an electronic message display accomplished by varying the light intensity, where the first message gradually reduces intensity to the point of not being legible and the subsequent message gradually increases intensity to the point of legibility.
C. “Frame” means a complete, static display screen on the electronic message display.
D. “Frame effect” means a visual effort on an electronic message display applied to a single frame to attract the attention of viewers.
E. “Scroll” means a mode of message transition on an electronic message display where the message appears to move vertically across the display surface.
F. “Transition” means a visual effect used on an electronic message display to change from one message to another.
G. “Travel” means a mode of message transition on an electronic message display where the message appears to move horizontally across the display surface.
(6) Electronic message board signs are prohibited within 200 feet of a principle structure in a Residential Zoning District, if any part of the sign would be visible from said structure. At the time of the filing of the permit application, the applicant will have to demonstrate that this standard is met. This may be accomplished either by showing that this standard is not applicable or by submitting a landscape plan or a plan referencing other means of screening that would buffer the sign face from the principle residence structure.
(f) In addition, signs, limited to two in number, each of which shall not exceed 20 square feet in area, may be permanently painted or lettered upon windows or doors of the building.
(Ord. 74-O-128, passed 10-17-1974; Ord. 79-O-441, passed 4-3-1979; Ord. 91-O-1245, passed 8-20-1991; Ord. 03-O-2021, passed 4-1-2003; Ord. 03-O-2067, passed 10-21-2003; Ord. 08-O-2489, passed 10-21-2008; Ord. 11-O-2664, passed 11-15-2011; Ord. 16-O-2895, passed 1-3- 2017)