(a) Premise signs. All signs in this district must be premise signs or convey a noncommercial message.
(b) Applicable divisions of Article VII. Except as otherwise provided in this division, all signs in this district must comply with Article VII. Divisions 51A-7.300 and 51A-7.400 do not apply in this district. In the event of a conflict between this division and other requirements set forth in Article VII that are not mandated by state or federal law, the requirements set forth in this division apply.
(c) Permit and certificate of appropriateness requirements.
(1) Sign permit required. A person shall not alter, place, maintain, expand, or remove a sign in this district without first obtaining a sign permit from the city. It is a defense to prosecution that the person was replacing a banner overhanging the public right-of-way using the existing sign hardware. A sign permit is required to install sign hardware for a banner.
(A) Sign permit procedures. Except as provided below, the procedures for obtaining a sign permit in Sec. 51A-7.505 apply in this district.
(B) Determination of procedure. Upon receipt of an application, the director shall determine whether it is to be reviewed under the director procedure or committee procedure. The proposed sign must be reviewed under the director procedure if the sign is:
(i) an attached premise sign of less than 50 square feet effective area and is not located within a historic overlay district; or
(ii) a detached premise sign with less than 50 square feet effective area, less than 25 feet in height, and not located within a historic overlay district; or
(iii) streetlight pole banners or facade mounted banners.
If the proposed sign does not meet the requirements for the director procedure, it must be reviewed under committee procedure.
(2) Certificate of appropriateness. All signs in this district are required to obtain a certificate of appropriateness, except for:
(A) any non-illuminated temporary banners of 20 square feet or less; or
(B) any non-illuminated attached premise sign of less than 20 square feet; or
(C) streetlight pole banners or facade mounted banners.
(d) Signs over the right-of-way. Signs may be located in or project over the public right-of-way, including, but not limited to, sidewalks, subject to the licensing and franchise requirements of Chapter XIV of the City Charter, Article VI of Chapter 43 of the Dallas City Code, as amended, Chapter 45 of the Dallas Building Code, and the requirements of all other applicable laws, codes, ordinances, rules, and regulations. The traffic engineer shall review the location of any sign located in or overhanging the public right-of-way to ensure that the sign will not pose a traffic hazard or visibility obstruction.
(e) Other codes not in conflict. All signs erected or maintained pursuant to the provisions of this division shall be erected and maintained in compliance with all applicable state laws and with the building code, electrical code, and other applicable ordinances of the city. Except as indicated in Subsection (b), in the event of conflict between this division and other laws, the most restrictive standard applies.
(f) Noncommercial messages.
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this ordinance, any sign that may display a commercial message may also display a noncommercial message, either in place of or in addition to the commercial message, so long as the sign complies with other requirements of this ordinance that do not pertain to the content of the message displayed.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this ordinance, any sign that may display one type of noncommercial message may also display any other type of noncommercial message, so long as the sign complies with other requirements of this ordinance that do not pertain to the content of the message displayed.
(g) Highway Beautification Acts. For purposes of applying the Federal and Texas Highway Beautification Acts, this district is considered to be a commercial zoning district.
(h) Streamers, pennants, and inflatable signs. Streamers, pennants, and inflatable signs, including, but not limited to, balloons are prohibited in this district.
(i) Setback. Except as provided in the spacing requirements for kiosks and newsstands, there are no setback requirements for a sign in this district.
(j) Illuminated signs.
(1) Except for changeable message signs, no illuminated sign that has an effective area of 150 square feet or less may have a luminance greater than 300 footlamberts, nor may any such sign have a luminance greater than 300 footlamberts for any portion of the sign within a circle two feet in diameter. No illuminated sign which has an effective area greater than 150 square feet may have a luminance greater than 200 footlamberts, nor may any such sign have a luminance greater than 200 footlamberts for any portion of the sign within a circle of two feet in diameter. The measurements of luminance are taken from any other premise or from any public right-of-way other than an alley.
(2) Except for changeable message signs, no illuminated sign nor any illuminated element of any sign, may turn on or off, or change its brightness, if:
(A) the change of illumination produces an apparent motion of the visual image, including but not limited to illusion of moving objects, moving patterns or bands of light, expanding or contracting shapes, rotation or any similar effect of animation;
(B) the change of message or picture occurs more often than once each three seconds for those portions of a sign which convey time or temperature, or once each 20 seconds for all other portions of a sign; or
(C) a portion of the sign, within a circle of two feet in diameter, has a luminance greater than 200 footlamberts when all elements of the sign are fully and steadily illuminated.
(k) Sign movement. Except for changeable message signs, no sign or any part of any sign may move or rotate at a rate more often than once each 10 seconds, or change its message at a rate more often than once each 20 seconds. Except for changeable message signs, no sign may move, rotate or change its message at any rate if any of its elements or any illuminated portion within a two-foot circle has a luminance greater than 200 footlamberts. (Ord. Nos. 24974; 28424)