(a) Compliance. No sign shall be permitted in any district except as hereinafter provided.
(b) General Provisions.
(1) Signs not exceeding twelve square feet in area and advertising the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which the sign is located shall be permitted on any property.
(2) Announcement or professional signs for home occupations and professional activities where permitted shall not exceed two square feet in area in an "R" District and not more than four square feet in other districts.
(3) Bulletin boards for a church, school, community or other public or semipublic institutional building shall be permitted provided the area of such bulletin board shall not exceed fifteen square feet in area.
(4) Wall signs pertaining to a nonconforming use shall be permitted on the same premises of such use, provided the area of such sign does not exceed twenty square feet.
(5) No building wall shall be used for display of advertising except that pertaining to the use carried on within such building.
(6) Temporary signs not exceeding in the aggregate fifty square feet, announcing the erection of a building, the architect, the builders, contractors, etc., may be erected for the period of sixty days, plus the construction period.
(7) No sign shall be placed in any public right of way except publicly-owned signs, such as traffic control signs and directional signs.
(8) Marquee signs, where permitted, may be attached to the soffit or fascia or a marquee, roof over a walk or permanent awning, such signs may extend above the fascia: however, the vertical dimensions of such sign, including fascia shall not exceed four feet.
(9) Projecting signs, where permitted, shall be limited to not more than one sign for each establishment or store unit. Such signs shall be attached to the wall and may project at an angle of not less than 90 degrees therefrom over a public way but not more than seven feet from the wall of the building. Any face of a projecting sign shall be not less than five feet from a side lot line or party wall of another store unit.
A. No projecting sign shall project from the face of the building or structure over a street, alley or other public space beyond a line drawn perpendicularly upward from two feet inside the curb line.
B. The faces of any projecting sign shall not exceed eighty square feet and its width shall not exceed eighteen inches.
C. A clear space of not less than twelve feet shall be provided below all parts of projecting signs.
D. Projecting signs exceeding two and one half square feet in area shall be made of noncombustible material except that decorations, facings and letterings set in or attached to noncombustible materials may be of combustible material.
E. Projecting signs shall be securely attached to the building or structure by bolts, anchors, chains, rods or guys. No nails or staples shall be used to secure any projecting sign to a building or structure.
(10) Location: No sign shall be so placed as to obstruct or interfere with any exit way or so as to prevent free passage from one part of any roof to any other part thereof, or so as to interfere with light and ventilation, or to obstruct or be attached to any fire escape. No sign shall be supported from the sidewalk, street or alley.
(11) Unsafe signs: All signs which are deemed by the Building Inspector in any manner, unsafe and dangerous, shall be immediately repaired and made safe or taken down by the owner or user of the sign.
Should the owner or user refuse to repair, make safe or take down a sign in need of repair, it may be removed by the City at the request of the Building Inspector and the cost thereof borne by the owner or user of such sign.
Signs pertaining to a discontinued business shall be removed within thirty days after notification by the Building Inspector to the Director of Public Safety. Should the owner refuse to remove the sign, it may be removed by the City and the cost to be borne by the owner of the building.
(12) Design: All signs shall be designed according to generally accepted engineering practices to withstand wind pressures as specified below. The loads shall be distributed to the structural members of the building or structure in such a way that these members will not be overstressed. For the purpose of determining wind pressures all signs, pole, projecting, marquee, ground and advertising, shall be classified as either open or solid. Signs in which the projected area to wind consists of seventy percent or more of the gross area as determined by the overall dimensions shall be classed as solid signs; those in which the projected exposed area is derived from open letters, figures, strips and structural framing members, the aggregate total area of which is less than seventy percent of the gross area so determined, shall be classed as open signs.
(13) All signs shall be designed and constructed to withstand wind pressures, applied to the projected exposed area, allowing for wind in any direction, in accordance with the following table:
From Ground to Top of Sign (Height in Feet) | Wind Pressure (Pounds per Square Foot) | |
Solid signs | Open Signs | |
Less than 30 | 17 | 23 |
30-49 | 22 | 31 |
50-99 | 28 | 39 |
100-499 | 33 | 46 |
For ground signs 30-49 feet in height the tabular values for heights of less than 30 feet may be used.
(14) The design loads of any sign shall be distributed to the structural members of the building or structure on which it is supported in such a way that these members will not be overstressed.
(c) Business or Industrial District Signs.
(1) In a business or industrial district, each business shall be permitted one sign. Projections of wall signs shall not exceed two feet measured from the face of the main wall of the building.
(2) The area of all permanent signs for any single business enterprise shall be limited according to the widths of the building or part of building occupied by such enterprise. For the purposes of this section, width shall be measured along the building face nearest parallel to the street line. In the case of a corner lot all frontage may be used in determining maximum area of the sign.
(3) Ground signs:
A. Ground signs not over fifty feet in height, having a maximum total sign of 150 square feet and located not closer than ten feet to any street right-of-way line and not closer than fifty feet to any adjoining lot line may be erected to serve a group of business establishments. There shall be only one ground sign for each building, regardless of the number of businesses conducted in such building.
B. The maximum area of any face of such sign shall not exceed seventy-five square feet.
(4) Pole signs of symbolic design shall be permitted for business establishments provided:
A. No part of such sign shall project into the right of way of any street or highway.
B. The maximum area of any face of such sign shall not exceed 100 square feet.
C. The pole support of the sign shall not be less than fifty feet from any lot in an "R" District.
(5) The area of all permanent signs for any single business enterprise may have an area equivalent to one and one-half square feet of sign area for each lineal foot of width of a building or part of a building, occupied by such enterprise, but shall not exceed a maximum area of 160 square feet. In computing the area of ground, projecting or protruding signs all faces on which advertising is displayed are considered sign area.
(6) Portable signs shall be permitted by issuance of a zoning certificate in a business or industrial district, provided each sign meets the following regulations:
A. No such sign shall interfere with vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
B. No sign shall be displayed in excess of fourteen continuous days for more than four separate periods each calendar year; provided that new businesses or industries may display portable signs for forty- five continuous days from the beginning of business activity.
C. Portable signs shall not exceed eight square feet in sign area.
D. The portable signs must be located on the applicant's side of sidewalk, where a sidewalk exists.
E. The sign must be set back at least five feet from the public right of way line where there are no sidewalks.
(Ord. 8, 1985. Passed 2-4-85.)
(d) Setback Requirements. Except as provided above, signs and outdoor advertising structures where permitted shall be set back from the established right-of-way line of any street or highway at least as far as the required front yard depth for a principal use in such district except for the following modifications:
(1) For every square foot by which such sign or outdoor advertising structure exceeds eighty square feet, such setback shall be increased by one-half foot but need not exceed 100 feet.
(2) At the intersection of any State and/or Federal highway, the setback of any sign or outdoor advertising structure shall not be less than 100 feet from the established right of way of each highway or street.
(3) Real estate signs and bulletin boards for a church, school or any other public or semipublic, religious or educational institution may be erected within ten feet of the established right-of-way line of any street or highway, provided such sign or bulletin board does not obstruct traffic visibility at street or highway intersections.
(e) Special Yard Provisions. The following special provisions shall be observed in the erection or placement of business signs and outdoor advertising structures:
(1) No such sign or advertising structure shall be permitted which faces the front or side lot line of any lot in any "R" District within 100 feet of such lot line or which faces any public parkway, public square or entrances to any public park, public or parochial school, library, church or similar institution, within 300 feet thereof.
(2) Signs and advertising structures where permitted shall be erected or placed in conformity with the side and rear yard requirements of the district in which located, except no sign or advertising structure shall be erected or placed closer than within fifty feet to a side or rear lot line in any "R" District.
(f) Illumination. The following provisions shall be observed in the illumination of signs and advertising structures:
(1) All signs and advertising structures, except as hereinafter modified, may be illuminated internally by reflected light provided the source of light is not directly visible or by neon or visible light bulbs not exceeding 11 watts per electric bulb. Further the lighting should be arranged so as to reflect away from the adjoining premises and such illumination shall not be so placed as to cause confusion or a hazard to traffic or conflict with traffic control signs or lights.
(2) No illumination involving movement or causing the illusion of movement by reason of the lighting arrangement or other devices shall be permitted.
(3) Christmas display lighting shall not be restricted by the foregoing regulations, except that such lighting shall in no way interfere with traffic signs, lights or signals.
(g) Subdivision Signs. Upon application to the Zoning Inspector, a permit may be issued as a special exception to the terms of this Zoning Ordinance allowing a land sales sign, provided that:
(1) The sign shall not be illuminated.
(2) The sign shall advertise the sale or development of a recorded lot subdivision.
(3) The sign shall be erected only upon the property for sale or being developed.
(4) The sign shall not be in excess of forty square feet.
(5) No more than one such sign shall be placed along one road frontage of any property in single and separate ownership and not more than two such signs may be permitted in any single development.
(6) A permit for the erection, construction or maintenance of such sign shall expire within one year. (Ord. 42,1968)
(h) Political Signs. Political signs shall be permitted in “R” Districts thirty (30) days prior to an election and must be removed within ten (10) days following an election. Said sign shall be no larger than 2' x 2'. (Ord. 41,2014. Passed 8-4-14.)
(i) Permits.
(1) A separate permit shall be required for the erection of signs regulated in this Zoning Ordinance, except that no permit shall be required for temporary real estate signs with an area of twelve square feet for the sale or lease of property and for small announcement signs with an area of less than two square feet. Announcement signs shall be removed by the person or persons responsible for posting same within thirty days after erection.
(2) Each application for a sign permit shall be accompanied by a drawing showing the design proposed; the size, character and color of letters, lines and symbols; the method of illumination; the exact location of the sign in relation to the building and property and the details and specifications for construction. A fee of three dollars ($3.00) shall accompany each application for a sign permit.
(j) Exemptions. Public notices, traffic control signs and other official signs and notices are exempt from the provisions of this section.
(Ord. 42, 1968.)