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SECS. 51A-7.924 THRU 51A-7.929. RESERVED.
(a) Definitions. In this section:
(1) AFFILIATE means any person who is an owner, shareholder, member, partner, agent, officer, or director of an applicant for a supergraphic sign location permit pursuant to this section or a person who has a contractual relationship with an applicant related to supergraphic signs.
(2) CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT WALLSCAPE SIGN means a supergraphic sign located in the inner loop area that is neither a promotional wallscape nor a civic center wallscape.
(3) CIVIC CENTER WALLSCAPE SIGN means a supergraphic sign located on a city-owned performance venue with a minimum 1,000 person seating capacity, convention center, or library.
(4) INNER LOOP AREA means the Main Street Subdistrict, Retail Subdistrict A, Retail Subdistrict B, the Convention Center Subdistrict, and the General CBD Subdistrict.
(5) LOCATION PERMIT means a sign permit to erect a supergraphic sign in a specific location.
(6) PROMOTIONAL WALLSCAPE SIGN means a supergraphic sign that identifies or promotes a cultural activity or sporting event that significantly benefits the city.
(7) QUALIFIED APPLICANT means any person who has been qualified by the director to apply for a location permit.
(8) SUPERGRAPHIC SIGN means a large attached premise or non-premise sign on a mesh or fabric surface, or a projection of a light image onto a wall face without the use of lasers.
(9) WALL FACE means an uninterrupted blank plane of a wall, from vertical edge to vertical edge, from its highest edge to its lowest edge. Edges can be established by a distinct change in materials or off-set which runs across (transects) the entire wall in a straight line.
(b) Visual display and coverage.
(1) Except as provided in this paragraph, a supergraphic sign must have one large visual display with a minimum of 80 percent non-textual graphic content (no more than 20 percent text).
(A) Multiple displays giving an appearance of multiple signs are prohibited.
(B) The effective area of text is the sum of the areas within minimum imaginary rectangles of vertical and horizontal lines, each of which fully contains a word.
(C) A promotional wallscape sign may contain 10 percent text or logo related to sponsorship. The remainder of the promotional wallscape sign must promote the special event.
(2) Subject to the maximum effective area in Subsection (c), a central business district wallscape sign must cover at least 60 percent of the wall face of the building to which it is attached. The lower 10 feet of the wall face may not be covered and is disregarded in calculating the coverage area.
(3) Supergraphic signs are intended to be creative and artful and not strictly a representation of an advertised product. It is the intent of this provision to:
(A) encourage the use of illustrative images or other non-repetitive design elements;
(B) encourage visually interesting, vibrant, and colorful designs;
(C) discourage use of solid colors or repetitive design elements; and
(D) discourage an image of a single product or product logo without other graphic elements.
(4) Supergraphic signs may be internally or externally illuminated. If internally illuminated, a supergraphic sign may consist of translucent materials, but not transparent materials.
(5) No building may have more than two central business district wallscape signs. The two central business district wallscape signs must be oriented a minimum of 90 degrees from each other.
(c) Effective area. Minimum permitted effective area of a central business district wallscape sign is 2,500 square feet. This subsection controls over Paragraph (b)(2).
(d) Height. No central business district wallscape sign or civic center wallscape sign may exceed 450 feet in height. There is no maximum height for promotional wallscape signs.
(e) Number of sign locations permitted.
(1) No more than 22 central business district wallscape locations are permitted within the inner loop area.
(2) No more than four civic center wallscape locations are permitted within the inner loop area.
(3) No supergraphic signs are permitted outside of the inner loop area.
(f) Extensions.
(1) Except as provided in Paragraph (2), a supergraphic sign may not extend beyond the edge of the face of the building to which it is attached.
(2) A supergraphic sign may wrap around the edge of a building if:
(A) both building facades to which the supergraphic sign is attached are otherwise eligible facades; and
(B) the supergraphic sign is one continuous image.
(g) Location.
(1) A central business district wallscape sign may only be located on a blank wall face.
(2) No supergraphic sign may:
(A) cover any window or architectural or design feature of the building to which it is attached;
(B) be attached to a federal-, state-, or city-designated historic or landmark structure;
(C) be attached to a facade erected or altered after June 1, 2005;
(D) be attached to a facade on Pacific Avenue between Akard Street and Ervay Street;
(E) be attached to a facade facing Main Street Garden or Belo Garden.
(3) Except as provided in Paragraph (4), central business district wallscape signs are only permitted on parking structures or buildings with lodging, residential, retail and personal service, or office uses occupying at least 75 percent of the leasable ground floor area and an overall building occupancy of at least 50 percent of the floor area.
(4) The director may waive the requirements in Paragraph (3) for up to one year if the director determines that the building or multi-building complex is currently being redeveloped. The director may revoke this waiver if redevelopment stops or is inactive for 90 days or more.
(h) Message duration. A supergraphic sign location may not display the same message for more than four consecutive months in any 12-month period.
(i) Hardware fasteners. All hardware fasteners for a supergraphic sign must comply with the Dallas Building Code and all other ordinances, rules, and regulations of the City of Dallas.
(j) HBA signs prohibited. No supergraphic sign may be a Highway Beautification Act (HBA) sign as defined in Section 51A-7.102.
(k) Permits.
(1) Application to be a qualified applicant.
(A) An applicant shall submit an application to the director for the purpose of qualifying as an applicant. The application must include:
(i) the name, address, phone number, and other pertinent information of the applicant, and if the applicant is a business entity, the names and business addresses of the principal officers, managers, and other persons who own more than five percent of the entity; and
(ii) an affidavit stating that the applicant is in good standing with the city on all code enforcement matters related to supergraphic signs.
(B) A person may not qualify as an applicant if that person:
(i) has any outstanding code violations related to supergraphic signs;
(ii) has previously displayed a non-permitted supergraphic sign within the previous 12 month period; or
(iii) is an affiliate of another qualified applicant.
(2) Location permit.
(A) Qualified applicants must submit a separate location permit application for each location. The director shall time stamp all applications upon receipt.
(B) The director shall review location permit applications in order of submittal. If the director determines that a location permit application is incomplete or does not meet the guidelines, the director shall reject the application and then review the next location permit application. If the initial number of location permit applications exceeds the number of location permits available, the director shall provide for a lottery to distribute the location permits.
(C) An application for a supergraphic sign location permit must contain:
(i) a memorandum of lease, sworn to by affidavit, that shows that the qualified applicant has an enforceable lease for a supergraphic location;
(ii) an affidavit stating that the property where the supergraphic sign will be located has no outstanding code enforcement matters;
(iii) a current tax certificate and affidavit stating that there are no unpaid governmental liens for the supergraphic sign location; and
(iv) an affidavit stating that the building meets the occupancy requirements in Paragraph (g)(3).
(D) Location permit holders may not be an affiliate of any other location permit holder.
(E) A person may not have more than nine pending or active location permits combined at any one time.
(F) A person shall not obtain a location permit for use by another person.
(G) A location permit expires four years after the date of issuance.
(H) The director shall revoke a location permit if the location has displayed obsolete supergraphic advertising or has been without supergraphic advertising matter for six months or more.
(I) A holder of a location permit may apply for renewal of the location permit by filing a complete application for renewal with the director no more than 180 days before the expiration of the current permit. To be eligible for a renewal of a location permit, an applicant must meet the qualification criteria under Paragraph (1).
(3) Promotional wallscape signs. An application for a promotional wallscape must be supported by a resolution of the city council that recognizes the activity or event as significantly benefiting the city. A promotional wallscape may not be erected more than 60 days before the beginning of the activity or event and must be removed not later than 30 days after the activity or event has ended.
(4) Review procedure. The director shall review all applications for location permits and copy change permits using the director procedure in Section 51A-7.505.
(l) Mandatory removal in 2019. All supergraphic signs must be removed on or before July 31, 2019. This section does not confer a nonconforming or vested right to maintain a supergraphic sign after July 31, 2019, and all permits authorizing supergraphic signs shall automatically expire on that date.
(m) Sunset. This section expires on July 31, 2019, unless re-enacted with amendment before that date. The city plan commission and city council shall review this section before its expiration date. (Ord. Nos. 24717; 24925; 24926; 25291; 25995; 27300; 27587; 28346; 28347; 28553; 29227)
(a) The convention center complex may have building accent lighting consisting of LED or similar technology that changes colors and brightness.
(b) Convention center complex accent lighting may display images, symbols, logos, or words that are associated with
(1) a convention or event taking place within the convention center complex or;
(2) an event or activities taking place within the Downtown Special Provision Sign District. (Ord. 28346)
(a) Purpose. It is the intent of this subdistrict to:
(1) create an aesthetically pleasing environment that promotes an atmosphere of vitality appropriate for a place where thousands of citizens gather for living, working, commuting, entertainment, and celebration;
(2) encourage the use of innovative, colorful, and entertaining signs, and signs that bring a distinctive character and attract people to downtown;
(3) identify and promote Akard Station as a vibrant centerpiece of ingress and egress in the heart of the Central Business District;
(4) encourage signs with a style, orientation, and location that take into consideration the high number of pedestrians and commuters expected within this district;
(5) communicate clear directions to and through the subdistrict; and
(6) promote the economic success of businesses within the subdistrict.
(b) In general. Except as provided in this section, signs must comply with the Downtown Special Provision Sign District in Division 51A-7.900. If there is a conflict between the text of this section and this division, the text of this section controls.
(c) Definitions. In this section:
(1) BUILDING IDENTIFICATION SIGN means a sign identifying a building within the subdistrict.
(2) FACADE-INTEGRATED SIGN means a sign that is part of a skin system for a portion of a building facade, has no fenestration, projects no more than 12 inches from the building facade, and the sign hardware is visually concealed from public rights-of-way.
(3) MIDDLE-LEVEL SIGN AREA means that portion of a building facade that is between the lower-level sign area and the upper-level sign area not to exceed 100 feet above grade.
(4) UPPER-LEVEL SIGN AREA means that portion of a building facade 36 feet or less from the top of a building.
(d) Special provisions for all signs.
(1) The maximum effective area of all signs combined is 10 percent of the total area of all building facades within this subdistrict.
(2) Permits for all signs in the Akard Station Subdistrict are subject to the director procedure in Section 51A-7.505(4).
(3) Except as otherwise limited by maximum effective areas allowed in this subdistrict, there is no maximum size or number of individual signs.
(e) Non-premise signs.
(1) Non-premise signs are only allowed on a building constructed before 1970 that contains at least 1,000,000 square feet of floor area.
(2) Non-premise signs may only be located in the middle-level sign area.
(3) Maximum total effective area of non-premise signs is 19,100 square feet. Minimum effective area of a single non-premise sign is 3,000 square feet. A message that wraps a building corner is considered one sign.
(4) Not more than 50 percent of all non-premise signage may be digital.
(5) The portion of a non-premise facade-integrated sign not devoted to building identification must be one large visual display with a minimum of 80 percent non-textual graphic content (no more than 20 percent text).
(6) A maximum of six signs may display non-premise messages at one time.
(7) No more than two non-premise signs may be displayed on a facade at one time.
(8) The same non-premise sign message may not be displayed for a period longer than 12 consecutive months.
(f) Digital signs.
(1) Digital signs must be facade-integrated signs and may only be located in the middle-level sign area.
(2) Digital signs must comply with the operational requirements for attached videoboard signs in Section 51A-7.910.
(g) HBA signs. No sign may be a Highway Beautification Act (HBA) sign as defined in Section 51A-7.102.
(h) Lower-level sign area.
(1) The total effective area for all signs in the lower-level sign area is 7,500 square feet.
(2) Premise signs located behind a window with at least 75 percent non-textual graphic content are not included in the calculation of effective area of signage within the lower-level sign area.
(3) Signs may be attached to a window or glass door and may exceed 15 percent of the area of that window or glass door or be located within the upper two-thirds of that window or glass door if the building official determines that the proposed signs do not eliminate visibility into or out of the premise. A sign authorized by this paragraph:
(A) must be made of translucent vinyl or a similar material with at least a 65/35 perforation pattern (a maximum of 65 percent of the area is closed, a minimum of 35 percent of the area is open); and
(B) may only have images; any text or characters on the sign are limited to 15 percent of the window area and are only permitted in the lower one-third of the window.
(4) Facade-integrated signs are not allowed in the lower-level sign area.
(i) Middle-level sign area.
(1) The total effective area for all signs in the middle-level sign area is 30,000 square feet.
(2) Middle-level signs must be facade-integrated signs. Facade-integrated signs may be digital signs or static signs with a light source that is not directly visible.
(3) To effectively balance the desire for significant signage and vibrancy within this subdistrict, a minimum of 1,400 square feet of effective area must display promotional messages in the Central Business District. An additional minimum of 1,500 square feet of effective area must display:
(A) promotional messages in the Central Business District, or
(B) images of artwork, historically significant buildings, or events within the city.
(4) A minimum of 1,800 square feet of the effective area of facade-integrated signs must be a building identification signage. Building identification signage may be included within or as a portion of any other sign.
(5) Digital signs are prohibited on a building facade facing Akard Street.
(6) Each new non-premise sign permit application for signs in the middle-level sign area must be submitted with a form provided by the department of development services detailing compliance with this section.
(j) Upper-level sign area.
(1) The total effective area for all signs in the upper-level sign area is 6,500 square feet.
(2) Facade-integrated signs are not allowed in the upper-level sign area.
(k) Signage study.
(1) Property owner or operator shall submit a signage study evaluating the types and ratio of signs in this subdistrict. The signage study must be in writing, must be submitted to the director between 60 and 90 days before December 31, 2021, and must include:
(A) a summary of all middle-level sign permit applications, including the forms submitted detailing compliance with this section; and
(B) the total number of notices of violation and citations issued by the City of Dallas for violating this section since May 27, 2015.
(2) Within 30 days after submission of the signage study, the director shall forward to the city council. If no signage study is submitted by the deadline, the director shall notify city council.
(a) The West End Historic Sign District is hereby recognized as that area of the city within the boundaries described in the Exhibit A attached to Ordinance No. 30139, passed by the Dallas City Council on June 22, 2016.
(b) The Purse Building subdistrict is hereby created within the West End Historic Sign District. The boundaries of the Purse Building subdistrict are described in Exhibit B attached to Ordinance No. 30139, passed by the Dallas City Council on June 22, 2016.
(c) The Antioch Church subdistrict is hereby created within the West End Historic Sign District. The boundaries of the Antioch Church subdistrict are described in Exhibit C attached to Ordinance No. 30663, passed by the Dallas City Council on September 27, 2017.
The purpose of this division is to regulate the construction of new signage and alterations made to existing signage with a view towards preserving the historic nature of this district. The general objectives of this division include those listed in Section 51A-7.101 as well as aesthetic considerations to insure that new signage is of appropriate historical design and does not visually obscure significant architectural features of a building or the district in general. (Ord. Nos. 19455; 21404; 22112; 26027)
In this division:
(1) BANNER means a sign attached to or applied on a strip of cloth and temporarily attached to a building or structure. Canopy signs and political flags are not banners.
(2) CANOPY SIGN means a sign attached to, applied on, or supported by a canopy or awning.
(3) FLAT ATTACHED SIGN means an attached sign projecting four or less inches from a building.
(4) GENERIC GRAPHICS means any pattern of shapes, colors, or symbols that does not commercially advertise.
(5) LOWER LEVEL SIGN means a sign partially or wholly situated below the top of the first floor windows or, if there are no first floor windows, below a point 12 feet above grade.
(6) MARQUEE means a permanent canopy projecting over the main entrance of a building. A marquee is considered to be part of the building.
(7) MARQUEE SIGN means a sign attached to, applied on, or supported by a marquee.
(8) NIGHT means the time period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise.
(9) PAINTED APPLIED SIGN means a sign painted directly on to the exterior facade of a building, not including doors and windows.
(10) PROJECTING ATTACHED SIGN means an attached sign, other than a roof sign, projecting 18 or more inches from a building.
(11) PROMOTIONAL MESSAGE means a message that identifies or promotes a cultural activity or event that benefits the city. Benefit to the city is established by:
(A) use of city property in accordance with a contract, license, or permit;
(B) the receipt of city monies for the activity or event; or
(C) resolution of the city council that recognizes the activity or event as benefitting the city.
(12) ROOF SIGN means a sign that is attached by sign supports to the roof of a building.
(13) SIGN HARDWARE means the structural support system for a sign, including the fastening devices that secure a sign to a building facade or pole.
(14) THIS DISTRICT means the West End Historic Sign District.
(15) TYPE A FACADE means a facade with a total window area comprising between 30 and 50 percent (inclusive) of the total facade area.
(16) TYPE B FACADE means a facade with a total window area comprising less than 30 or more than 50 percent of the total facade area.
(17) UPPER LEVEL SIGN means a sign wholly situated above the top of the first floor windows or, if there are no first floor windows, above a point 12 feet above grade.
(18) WELCOME MESSAGE means a message that identifies and greets heads of state, foreign dignitaries, groups using city property in accordance with a contract, license, or permit, or government organizations.
(19) WINDOW ART DISPLAY means an exhibit or arrangement placed within a storefront window of a building and designed to be viewed from a street.
(20) WINDOW SIGN means a sign painted on or affixed to a window. (Ord. Nos. 19455; 21404; 22112; 26027)
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