Sign regulations, including provisions to control the type, design, size, location, illumination and maintenance thereof, are established and shall be strictly construed in order to achieve, among others, the following purposes:
(a) To promote and maintain attractive high value residential and business districts by preventing the blighting influence of excessive signage;
(b) To provide reasonable, yet appropriate, conditions for identifying and advertising goods sold or services rendered in business districts by relating the size, type and design of signs to the type and size of establishments;
(c) To provide for appropriate signs for the identification of commercial development;
(d) To control the design of signs so that their appearance shall be aesthetically harmonious with their surroundings and an overall urban design for the area;
(e) To eliminate any conflict between advertising (or identification) signs and traffic control signs which would be hazardous to the safety of the motoring or pedestrian public;
(f) To provide review procedures which enable the City to comprehensively evaluate the appropriateness of the sign to the site, building and surroundings;
(g) To provide for the control of temporary signs to avoid the blighting influence of excessive and/or deteriorating temporary signage; and
(h) To prohibit all signs not expressly permitted by this code.
In establishing these purposes, the City has determined that signs which do not comply with these regulations (type, size, location and limitation on the number of signs) are a public nuisance and are a detriment to the general health, safety and welfare of the community. Unregulated signs are unduly distracting to motorists and pedestrians and reduce the effectiveness of signs needed to direct the public.
(Ord. 03-37. Passed 11-3-03.)