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(a) Purpose of section. It is the declared purpose of this division that, in time, all privately owned signs shall either conform to the provisions of this division or be removed. By the passage of this ordinance and its amendments, no presently illegal sign shall be deemed to have been legalized unless such sign complies with all current standards under the terms of this ordinance and all other ordinances of the city of Dallas. Any sign which does not conform to all provisions of this ordinance shall be a nonconforming sign if it legally existed as a conforming or nonconforming sign under prior ordinances; or an illegal sign if it did not exist as a conforming or nonconforming sign, as the case may be. It is further the intent and declared purpose of this ordinance that this division, and not the provisions of Article IV, shall exclusively govern how non-conforming signs in this district are treated. It is further the intent and declared purpose of this ordinance that no offense committed, and no liability, penalty or forfeiture, either civil or criminal, incurred prior to the time this ordinance was adopted shall be discharged or affected by such passage, but prosecutions and suits for such offenses, liabilities, penalties or forfeitures may be instituted, and causes presently pending may proceed.
(b) Removal and maintenance of certain non-conforming signs.
(1) A sign erected without a permit, either prior to or after the adoption of this division, is an illegal sign if a permit was required for its erection according to the law in effect at the time the sign was erected. It shall be unlawful to maintain any illegal sign. It is a defense to prosecution under this subsection if the sign has been made to comply with the provisions of this division so that a permit may be issued.
(2) No person may repair a nonconforming sign if the cost of repair is more than 60 percent of the cost of erecting a new sign of the same type at the same location, unless that sign is brought into conformity with this chapter. No person may alter or repair a nonconforming sign where the effect of such repair shall be to enlarge or increase the structure of the nonconforming sign. For purposes of this section, mono-pole, metal, and wood are each an example of a “type” of sign and the term “repair” does not include maintenance or changes of words or other content on the face of a sign.
(c) Board of Adjustment authority.
(1) The board of adjustment may, in specific cases, take the following actions and authorize the following special exceptions with respect to the provisions of this division.
(2) The board of adjustment may waive any filing fee for an appeal under this division when the board finds that payment of the fee would result in substantial financial hardship to the applicant. The applicant may either pay the fee and request reimbursement as part of his appeal or request that the matter be placed on the board’s miscellaneous docket for predetermination. If the matter is placed on the miscellaneous docket, the applicant may not file his appeal until the merits of the request for waiver have been determined by the board.
(3) The board of adjustment may hear and decide appeals that allege error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by the building inspection division in the enforcement of this division.
(4) The board of adjustment may require a nonconforming sign to be brought into immediate conformity with all current standards of all ordinances of the city, or to be removed when, from the evidence presented, the board finds the sign to be hazardous to the public or to have been abandoned by its owners.
(5) Where a permit was required for a sign’s erection according to the law in effect at the time the sign was erected and where the building inspection division finds no record of a permit being issued, the board of adjustment may authorize the issuance of a replacement permit when, from the evidence presented, the board finds either that a permit was issued or that arrangements were made with a sign company to obtain the permit.
(d) Determination of non-commercial message.
(1) Findings. The city council finds that it may be necessary in the enforcement of this division to determine whether the message displayed upon a sign is a commercial message or a noncommercial message.
(2) Hearing. If a person receives a notice of violation or is cited for maintaining an illegal sign, and the person notifies the city attorney in writing within 10 days of receiving the notice or citation that he believes the sign displays a noncommercial message and is, therefore, not in violation of this division, the city attorney shall postpone prosecution of the case and shall have the matter placed on the agenda of the board of adjustment for appeal under Section 51A-7.1730(c)(3) of this section. The board shall give the person maintaining the sign 10 days written notice of a public hearing on the matter. After hearing the evidence, the board shall decide whether the message displayed on the sign is commercial or noncommercial. No fee may be charged for this appeal.
(3) Judicial Review. If the board decides that the message is commercial and that the sign is illegal, the person maintaining the sign may within 10 days of the board’s decision file a notice of nonacceptance of the decision with the city attorney. Within three days after receiving notice of nonacceptance, the city attorney shall initiate suit in the district court for determination that the sign is commercial and for an injunction to prohibit display of the sign in violation of this article. The city shall bear the burden of showing that the sign is commercial. In computing the three-day time period, Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays are excluded. (Ord. Nos. 24348; 25918)
(a) A special provision sign district is hereby created to be known as the Southside Entertainment Sign District. For purposes of this article, the boundaries of the Southside Entertainment Sign District are that portion of Planned Development District No. 317 (the Cedars Special Purpose District), that is enclosed between the centerlines of Interstate Highway 30, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit right-of-way, Belleview Road, and the MK&T railroad right-of-way.
(b) This division incorporates by reference the provisions of Divisions 51A-7.100 through 51A-7.800 of CHAPTER 51A, “PART II OF THE DALLAS DEVELOPMENT CODE,” as that division exists today and as it may be amended in the future. In the event of a conflict between the provisions of this division and Divisions 51A-7.100 through 51A-7.800, this division controls.
(c) Any portion of the property described in Subsection (a) that was formerly part of the Downtown Special Provision Sign District is no longer considered to be part of that district. This division completely supersedes Division 51A-7.900 with respect to the property described in Subsection (a). (Ord. 24760)
(a) The purpose of these sign regulations is to regulate the construction of new signs and the alteration of existing signs to promote economic growth in this district as an entertainment district.
(b) These sign regulations have been developed to achieve the following objectives in this district:
(1) To create a vibrant entertainment environment while ensuring that signage does not obscure architecturally significant features of the buildings in this district.
(2) To help create an aesthetically pleasing environment that promotes economic growth in this district. (Ord. 24760)
(1) ARCADE SIGN means a sign that is mounted under a canopy or awning and is perpendicular to the building to which the canopy or awning is attached. This sign is intended to be read from the pedestrian walkway that the canopy or awning covers.
(2) AREA INFORMATION SIGN means a sign providing information about any of the following:
(A) The name, trade name, or logo of the owner or occupant of any premise within this district.
(B) The identification of any premise within this district.
(C) Any accommodations, services or activities offered, or conducted, other than incidentally, on any premise within this district.
(D) The sale, lease, or construction of any premise within this district.
(3) ATTACHED SIGN means a sign that is attached to, applied on, or supported by: any part of a building (such as a wall, parapet, roof, window, canopy, awning, arcade, or marquee) that encloses or covers usable space; mounted antennas; water reservoirs on buildings; chimneys; or visual screens that surround roof-mounted equipment.
(4) AWNING means a fabric or vinyl surface supported by a metal (or other similarly strong material) structure, which is applied to the face of a building.
(5) AWNING SIGN means a sign attached to, painted on, or otherwise applied to an awning.
(6) BANNER means a sign applied on a strip of cloth, vinyl, or similar material and attached to a building or structure. Awning, canopy signs, and flags are not banners.
(7) CANOPY means a permanent, non-fabric architectural element projecting from the face of a building.
(8) CANOPY SIGN means a sign attached to, applied on, or supported by a canopy, with no changeable message area.
(9) CHANGEABLE MESSAGE means the portion of a sign composed of Light Emitting Diode (LED)/Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) elements, “Diamond Vision” technology, slide lettering, slated rotating surfaces, or other changeable message technology that displays different designs or advertisements.
(10) DISTRICT or THIS DISTRICT means the Southside Entertainment Sign District.
(11) EFFECTIVE AREA means:
(A) for a detached sign, or a marquee sign, the area within a minimum imaginary rectangle of vertical and horizontal lines that fully contains all extremities of the sign excluding its supports. The rectangle is calculated from an orthographic projection of the sign viewed horizontally. The viewpoint for this projection that produces the largest rectangle must be used. If elements of the sign are moveable or flexible, such as a flag or a string of lights, the measurement is taken when the elements are fully extended and parallel to the plane of view;
(B) for a sign placed on an awning, canopy, fence, construction barricade, non-enclosing wall, planter, or other similar structure that is designed to serve a separate purpose other than to support the sign, the entire area of such structure may not be computed, and the effective area must be measured by the rule for effective area for an attached sign; and
(C) for an attached sign other than a marquee sign, the sum of the areas within minimum imaginary rectangles of vertical and horizontal lines, each of which fully contains a word. If a design, outline, illustration, or interior illumination surrounds or attracts attention to a word, then it is included in the calculation of the effective area.
(12) EVENT SIGN means a temporary sign advertising any event at a sports, musical, or arts venue in this district, including, but not limited to, indoor motion picture theaters, theaters for live musical or dramatic performances, indoor and outdoor concert halls, galleries, and exhibition halls.
(13) FACADE means a separate face of a building, such as: a parapet wall; an omitted wall line; any part of a building which encloses or covers usable space; a chimney; roof-mounted equipment; a mounted antenna; or a water tower. Where separate facades on a building are oriented in the same direction or in directions within 45 degrees of one another, they are to be considered as part of a single facade. A roof is not a facade or part of a facade. Multiple buildings on the same lot have separate facades from each other.
(14) FLAT ATTACHED SIGN means an attached sign that projects 18 inches or less from a building, and has a face parallel to the building facade.
(15) GENERIC GRAPHICS means a pattern of shapes, colors, or symbols that does not commercially advertise.
(16) LANDSCAPE SIGN means a sign that is a part of a single landscape design that creates a base for the sign in conjunction with a retaining wall or an open space created with the use of water or planting material.
(17) MARQUEE SIGN means a sign attached to, applied on, or supported by a permanent canopy projecting over a pedestrian street entrance of a building, and consisting primarily of changeable panels, words, or characters.
(18) MESSAGE AREA means the area within the effective area of a sign that provides a specific commercial or noncommercial message and that excludes all extremity and intra-areas associated with the sign fixture.
(19) MONUMENT SIGN means a detached sign applied directly onto a grade-level support structure (instead of a pole support) with no separation between the sign and grade.
(20) MOVEMENT CONTROL SIGN means a sign that directs vehicular and pedestrian movement within this district.
(21) OCCUPANT means a person, group of people collectively, association, partnership, corporation, or other entity to whom a single certificate of occupancy has been issued by the building official.
(22) PROJECTING ATTACHED SIGN means an attached sign projecting more than 12 inches from a building at an angle other than parallel to the facade.
(23) ROOF SIGN means a sign that is attached to or supported by the roof of a building.
(24) SIGN HARDWARE means the structural support system for a sign, including the fastening devices that secure a sign to a building facade or pole.
(25) SPECIAL SIGN DISTRICT ADVISORY COMMITTEE means that committee created by Section 51A-7.504 of the Dallas Development Code, as amended.
(26) TEMPORARY SIGN means a sign erected for a limited time that identifies an event or activity of limited duration. Examples include signs advertising the sale or lease of property, construction activity in progress, or a concert or other cultural event.
(27) 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.
(28) WINDOW SIGN means a sign painted or affixed to a window.
(29) WORD: For purposes of this division, each of the following is considered to be one word:
(A) Any word in any language found in any standard unabridged dictionary or dictionary of slang.
(B) Any proper noun or any initial or series of initials.
(C) Any separate character, symbol, or abbreviation such as “&”, “$”, “%”, and “Inc.”
(D) Any telephone number, street number, or commonly used combination of numerals and symbols such as “$5.00" or “50%.”
(E) Any Internet website, network, or protocol address, domain name, or universal record locator.
(F) Any symbol or logo that is a registered trademark but which itself contains no word or character.
(G) A street address is not considered to be a word.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the definitions in the Dallas Development Code apply to this division. In the event of a conflict, this section controls. (Ord. 24760)
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