For the purpose of the Sign Code, the following definitions shall apply unless the context indicates or requires a different meaning.
ADJACENT. Adjacent means abuts, is contiguous to or shares a common boundary.
A-FRAME SIGN. A portable type of promotional business sign.
ALLOWABLE SIGN AREA. The total sign area permitted for all nonexempt signs.
ARTERIAL ROADWAY. A street designated as an arterial roadway in transportation plans by the Town of Florence.
BANNER. Any sign of fabric, plastic or similar material that is mounted to a pole, structure or a building at one or more edges. Banners are used to advertise special events or new business and are not permanently attached.
BEACON. Means any light with one or more beams directed into the atmosphere or directed at one or more points not on the same site as the light source; also, any light with one or more beams that rotate or move. Beacons are prohibited except when approved for limited usage with a special event permit.
BILLBOARD. A flat surface or board, used outdoors, on which large commercial advertisements or notices are posted. In this Sign Code, BILLBOARDS shall be referred to as OFF- PREMISE ADVERTISING SIGNS.
BLADE SIGN. A type of projecting sign mounted on a building facade or storefront pole or attached to a surface perpendicular to the normal flow of traffic.
BUILDING FRONTAGE. The length of the wall of a completely enclosed permanent building on a site that fronts directly on a public or private street or right-of-way.
BUILDING GROUND FLOOR AREA. The area of the ground floor enclosed within the walls of all buildings on the site.
BUILDING IDENTIFICATION SIGN. A non-commercial sign that identifies the street address of the building, as well as other identifying information required for public safety purposes.
BUILDING MARKER. A sign indicating the name of a building and date and incidental information about its construction, which sign is cut into masonry surface or made of bronze or other permanent material and affixed to or placed near a building.
BUILDING SIGN. Any sign attached to or painted on any part of a building, as contrasted to fence, freestanding or monument signs.
BUS STOP. A bench, shelter, kiosk, or pole sign or similar structure placed by the Town of Florence or the locally endorsed public transportation authority, e.g., Central Arizona Regional Transit, along an established public transportation route to mark an area for members of the general public to wait for and get on or off of public transportation.
BUSINESS FRONTAGE. The length of the face or wall of a completely enclosed and permanent building occupied by an individual building occupant and contains a customer entrance. An occupant may have more than one business frontage if it occupies building frontage facing on two or more streets or public areas. If the building faces two or more streets or public areas, only the two main frontages may be used in calculating allowable sign area.
CABINET SIGN. A building sign that is an enclosed cabinet with copy on one or more sides and may enclose an integrated light source that can shine through the sides or face of the sign.
CAFÉ UMBRELLA SIGNS. Signs or copy permanently embroidered, screened, dyed, stenciled, or painted into the fabric of umbrellas that are set up in sidewalk cafes.
CANOPY SIGN. Any sign that is a part of or is attached to an awning, canopy, or other fabric, plastic, or structural protective cover over a door, entrance, window, or outdoor service area. A marquee sign is not a CANOPY SIGN.
CHANGEABLE COPY SIGN, MANUAL. A sign or portion thereof that has a reader board for the display of text information in which each alphanumeric character, graphic or symbol, may be changed or re-arranged manually with characters, letters or illustrations. Furthermore, the changes can occur without altering the face or surface of the sign.
CHANNEL LETTERING. Copy that is individually cut, raised, carved or manufactured.
CIVIC DISPLAY. A temporary display of banners, balloons, flags, lights or similar decorations erected on a public street or other public property in connection with a holiday or civic event.
COLLECTOR ROADWAY. A street designated as a collector roadway in transportation plans approved by the town.
COMMERCIAL CENTER. A group of contiguous lots organized into a shopping center, strip mall, business park, office condominium or similar grouping that share mutual access, ingress and egress easements.
COMMERCIAL MESSAGE. Any sign wording, logo, or other representation that, directly or indirectly, names, advertises or calls attention to a business, product, service, or other commercial activity or is otherwise defined as COMMERCIAL SPEECH by the Arizona Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, or the United States Supreme Court for purposes of interpreting the United States Constitution or Arizona Constitution regarding freedom of expression or speech.
COMMUNITY BUILDING. A building that is typically owned by a government entity, civic organization or homeowner's association that is used for meetings and activities related to the local community.
COMMUNITY DIRECTORY SIGN. A sign, or a group of signs designed as a single display, that gives information about local community organizations.
COPY. Characters, letters, symbols (including logos and trademarks), illustrations and writings.
CO-TENANCY. A business that leases or rents space to tenant(s) or business(es) that are housed within their building though they operate as an independent business.
DIGITAL SIGN. A sign or portion thereof that displays electronic, static images, static graphics, text information, or static pictures, with or without information, defined by a small number of matrix elements using combinations of light emitting diodes (LED), fiber optics, light bulbs, liquid crystal display (LCD) or other illumination devices within the display area. Digital signs include computer programmable, microprocessor controlled electronic or digital displays. May also be known as an ELECTRONIC MESSAGE CENTER.
DIRECT LIGHTING. Direct lighting means that the light fixture or bulbs are visible when looking at the light source or sign.
DIRECTIONAL SIGN. A permanent sign that directs the flow of traffic or pedestrians and may or may not contain a commercial message. DIRECTIONAL SIGNS shall not exceed six square feet in sign area and three feet in height.
DIRECTORY SIGN. A sign, or a group of signs designed as a single display, which gives information about the location of businesses, buildings or addresses within a residential, office, commercial or industrial complex with no commercial message. DIRECTORY SIGNS located internal to a project and not visible from adjacent roadways shall not count towards on-site signage calculations.
FENCE SIGN. A sign that is mounted or painted on a fence, screen wall, retaining wall, sound wall or similar type offence or wall structure.
FLAG. A piece of fabric varying in shape, color and design usually attached at one edge to a staff, pole or cord which contains a noncommercial message as defined herein, unless otherwise permitted in this code.
FREESTANDING SIGN. A sign that is placed on or anchored to the ground or is supported by a sign structure that is placed on or anchored to the ground and is independent from any building or other structure. In this Sign Code, a FREESTANDING SIGN may also be known as a MONUMENT SIGN, but this definition excludes billboards or off-premise advertising signs.
FRONTAGE. The portion of a site that fronts directly on a public or private street or right of way. See BUILDING FRONTAGE and SITE FRONTAGE.
GAS/SERVICE STATION CANOPY SIGN. A sign or signs that are attached to a canopy located at a gas station or service station. These signs are considered wall signs and shall be counted towards the allowable wall signage allowed for a development.
GATEWAY SIGN. A freestanding or monument type of sign near the municipal boundaries of the Town of Florence that introduces or welcomes visitors to the community. In certain cases, this may be incorporated into a business' freestanding or monument sign, in which case such signage would not be counted towards the business' allowable signage.
GRADE. Unless otherwise specified, the average of the highest and lowest elevations of the ground at the base of the sign.
GROSS FLOOR AREA. The sum of the square footage of all the floors of a structure or building.
HALO ILLUMINATION. A form of internal illumination where channel lettering is used and the light source is hidden behind and glows around the edges of letters or symbols giving the effect of a light halo.
HEIGHT. Unless otherwise specified, the vertical distance from the topmost part of the sign cabinet or copy (whichever is higher) to grade.
HISTORIC DISTRICT. Any officially adopted and recognized historic district located within the Town of Florence.
HOLIDAY DECORATION. Any display commonly associated with a nationally recognized holiday.
HUMAN SIGN. A sign held by or attached to a human for the purposes of advertising or otherwise drawing attention to an individual, business, commodity, service or product. This can also include a person dressed in costume for the purpose of advertising or drawing attention to an individual, business, commodity, service or product. May also be referred to as SIGN WALKERS.
ILLEGAL SIGN. Any sign or any type that was erected or put up after the effective date of the currently adopted Sign Code and does not comply with the Sign Code.
ILLUMINATION. ILLUMINATION refers to the type and location of the light source for the sign; ALL TYPES of ILLUMINATION means any form of light source including indirect, internal, exposed bulb including neon or other tubes of light.
INCIDENTAL SIGN. A sign posted on private property by the owner of the property that is generally informational, contains no commercial message, and has a purpose secondary to the use of the site on which it is located, such as traffic control signs, parking or loading control signs, signs indicating the location of telephones or emergency equipment and other similar signs. Official signs are not INCIDENTAL SIGNS.
INDIRECT ILLUMINATION. Illumination that is cast on a sign from a source outside the sign.
INFLATABLE SIGN. A sign consisting of balloons and/or inflatables made of plastic, rubber, metallic, cloth or other materials, regardless of the size, that is used for the purpose of attracting attention.
INTERACTIVE SIGN. A digital sign that changes the sign message based on a passing vehicle or person. Radar speed signs or other traffic control signs are exempted from this definition.
INTERNAL ILLUMINATION. Illumination produced by a light source contained within a sign and not directly visible from outside.
LED SIGN. A sign that is lit by use of light-emitting diodes (LED) lighting visible from the outside. If the sign is made up of matrix of bulbs or light source that individually light up to form images, it will be considered a DIGITAL SIGN.
LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES (LED) LIGHTING. A type of solid-state lighting that utilizes light-emitting diodes (LED) as a source of illumination rather than electrical filaments or gas. If the sign is made up of matrix of bulbs or light source that individually light up to form images, it will be considered a DIGITAL SIGN.
LIQUID-CRYSTAL DISPLAY (LCD). A low-power, flat-panel display used in many digital devices to display numbers or images. It is made of liquid containing crystals that are affected by electric current, sandwiched between filtering layers of glass or plastic. LCDs do not produce light of their own; instead, when electric current is passed through the material, the molecules of the "liquid crystal" twist so that they either reflect or transmit light from an external source.
LOT. LOT is defined in § 150.031 of the Development Code.
LUMINANCE. The physical measurement of brightness or illumination leaving a surface in a particular direction, or reflected off that surface, and can be thought as measuring the brightness of a surface as seen by the eye. It is measured in candelas per square meters (cd/m2) or nits (1 nit =
1 cd/m2).
MARQUEE. Any permanent roof-like structure projecting beyond a building or extending along and projecting beyond the wall of the building, generally designated and constructed to provide protection from the weather. Marquee signs located on private property shall not extend beyond the property line into adjacent lots and, except in the redevelopment area or with a right-of-way permit, shall not extend into the right-of-way.
MODES OF OPERATION. A term referring to the types of visual display, including:
(1) DISSOLVE. Signs where static messages are changed by means of varying light intensity or pattern, where the first message gradually appears to dissolve and lose legibility simultaneous to the gradual appearance and legibility of subsequent message.
(2) FADE. Signs where static messages are changed by means of varying light intensity, where the first message gradually reduces intensity to the point of not being legible and the subsequent message gradually increases intensity to the point of legibility.
(3) FLASHING SIGN. A sign that uses blinking or intermittent illumination.
(4) MESSAGE SEQUENCING. Signs where a single thought, idea, concept, message or advertisement for a product or service that is divided into segments and presented over two or more successive display phases of a single dynamic sign or across two or more individual dynamic signs.
(5) SCROLLING. Signs where the message is changed by the apparent vertical movement of the letters or graphic element of the message.
(6) STATIC. Signs that include no animation or effects simulating animation.
(7) TRAVEL. Signs where the message is changed by the apparent horizontal movement of the letters or graphic elements of the message.
(8) VIDEO DISPLAY. Signs that change its message or background in a manner or method of display characterized by motion or pictorial imagery, which may or may not include text and depicts action or special effect to imitate movement, the presentation of pictorials or graphics displayed in a progression of frames which give the illusion of motion, including moving objects, moving patterns or bands of light or expanding or contracting shapes.
MONUMENT SIGN. A sign that is attached directly to the ground or is supported by a sign structure that is placed on or anchored in the ground and is independent from any building or other structure. Within this Sign Code, all MONUMENT SIGNS will be referred to as FREESTANDING SIGNS.
MOVING SIGN. A sign where the sign, sign structure, or any part of the sign or sign structure physically moves or rotates by mechanical means. For example, a tri-vision sign is a MOVING SIGN. If the only moving part of a sign is a clock, the sign shall not be considered as a MOVING SIGN.
MURAL. A painting or other work of art executed directly on a wall or the like that does not contain any commercial messages or images.
NEIGHBORHOOD BULLETIN BOARD. Any surface outside of a building provided specifically to allow the posting of neighborhood notices.
NEON. A type of illumination that is produced by neon lights or by lamps containing similar gases such as helium, carbon dioxide, argon or krypton usually electrifying glass tubes or bulbs.
NONCOMMERCIAL MESSAGE. Any sign copy that is not a commercial message as defined above, and includes any definition of NONCOMMERCIAL SPEECH by the Arizona Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, or the United States Supreme Court for purposes of interpreting the United States Constitution or Arizona constitution regarding freedom of expression or speech.
NONCONFORMING SIGN. Any sign that was lawfully erected prior to the adoption of an ordinance codified in this Sign Code, or amendments thereto, which would not be permitted under the ordinance or amendment. This definition shall include signs that were erected without a permit and which would require a permit under the current provisions of this Sign Code.
OFFICIAL SIGN. Any sign owned by, or erected by or at the direction of the town in furtherance of the official duties of the town or another authorized governmental agency, including, but not limited to, traffic control signs, directional signs, street identification signs, warning signs, parking control signs, area identification signs, and signs prohibiting or controlling access to property.
OFF-PREMISE ADVERTISING SIGN. An outdoor advertising sign that advertises an activity, service or product and that is located on premises other than the premises at which activity or service occurs or product is sold or manufactured.
ON-PREMISE ADVERTISING SIGN. An outdoor advertising sign that advertises an activity, service or product and that is located on premises at which activity or service occurs or product is sold or manufactured. In the case of a shopping center or office complex or similar arrangement of uses, this may also include a reasonably adjacent location within the same center or complex.
PARCEL. See LOT.
PENNANT. Any lightweight plastic, fabric, or other material, whether or not containing a message of any kind, suspended from a rope, wire, or string, usually in series, designed to move in the wind.
PORTABLE SIGN. A movable sign that is not permanently attached to a structure or the ground, and includes: A-frame, portable reader boards and similar signs. This definition does not include any signs on trailers, vehicles or digital signs.
PROJECTING/SUSPENDED SIGN. Any sign affixed to a building or wall in such a manner that its face is not parallel to the wall. A marquee is not considered a PROJECTING SIGN. PROJECTING SIGNS located on private property shall not extend beyond the property line into adjacent lots and, except in the redevelopment area or with a right-of-way permit, shall not extend into the right-of-way. PROJECTING/SUSPENDED SIGNS shall have an eight-foot minimum clearance between the bottom of the sign and the sidewalk, or finished grade where no sidewalk exists.
PROMOTIONAL SIGNS. Promotional signs are classified as temporary signs that are used to promote a new business, special offers, sales, special events and similar occasions. All PROMOTIONAL SIGNS are considered temporary signs, but not all temporary signs are PROMOTIONAL SIGNS.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. Any type of local or regional public transportation service that is run by the town or a locally endorsed public transportation authority, e.g., Central Arizona Regional Transit.
PYLON SIGN. A freestanding sign in excess of ten feet in height that is detached from a building and is supported by one or more structural elements which are architecturally similar to the design of the sign. A PYLON SIGN is considered a freestanding sign.
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS. For the purposes of the Sign Code, the following zoning districts shall be considered RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS: RA-10, RA-4, R1-R, RRES, R1-18, R1-6, R-2 MFR, MHS and RV. PUD may be Employment/Commercial, Residential or Mixed-Use District. The underlying land use shall define the type of district applicable.
RESIDENTIAL SIGN. A sign located within a residential district.
ROOF. A horizontal or sloping surface of a building which serves as a cover for the building or its entry, portico or other appurtenances. This definition shall include any part of a building which resembles a roof in form or function.
ROOF SIGN. A sign painted on, supported by or attached to the roof or roof structure of a building. This definition shall not include a sign attached flat against the wall of a penthouse; painted flat on the roof and only visible from the air; attached to a mansard roof or parapet as long as the sign does not project above the roofline and there is no other viable location on the building.
SHINGLE SIGN. A sign suspended from, and located entirely under a covered porch, covered walkway or an awning and is anchored or rigidly hung to prevent the sign from swinging due to wind movement. Shingle signs shall have an eight-foot minimum clearance between the bottom of the sign and the sidewalk, or finished grade where no sidewalk exists.
SIGN. Any visual communication, including appurtenances, which is used to attract the attention of the public, when the display is visible beyond the boundaries of the property.
SIGN AREA. The entire area within a continuous perimeter, enclosing the extreme limits of sign display, including any frame or border. Curved, spherical or any other shaped sign face shall be computed on the basis of actual surface area. The copy of signs composed of individual letters, numerals or other devices shall be the sum of the area of the smallest rectangle or other geometric figure encompassing all of the letters or devices.
SIGN HEIGHT. The height of the sign measured from the finished grade located directly beneath the highest part of the sign. Where an adjacent roadway sits notably higher than the adjacent grade for the sign location, the height of the sign may be measured from the elevation of the centerline of the nearest travel lane of the street or highway to which the sign is oriented rather than from grade.
SIGN STRUCTURE. A structure designed to support one or more signs in place.
SITE. SITE means:
(1) A lot or parcel owned by a person or entity, unless the lot or parcel is part of a combination or commercial center as defined herein;
(2) A combination of lots or parcels that are contiguous, are owned in fee as a matter of record by the same person or entity, have the same zoning classification, and are designated by the owner to be a site for purposes of this Sign Code;
(3) A commercial center as defined above; or
(4) A bus stop if the property on which the bus stop is located is leased or licensed to the town or locally endorsed regional transportation authority.
SITE FRONTAGE. The linear dimension of a site abutting on public or private street right-of-way.
STACKED SIGN. Two or more signs affixed to the same sign structure that vary in height from the ground.
SUSPENDED SIGN. A sign supported from, and below, a building soffit or permanent canopy. Also see PROJECTING/SUSPENDED SIGN.
TEMPORARY SIGN. Any sign that is used only temporarily, is located on-site or off-site of the business/entity being advertised and is not permanently mounted to a structure or ground.
TIME AND TEMPERATURE SIGN. A sign or portion of a sign which displays only the current time and/or temperature and carries no other copy. A time and temperature sign shall not be considered a flashing or animated sign and shall not exceed 15 square feet in sign area.
TRI-VISION SIGN. A sign composed in whole or in part of a series of vertical or horizontal slats or cylinders that are capable of being rotated at intervals so that partial rotation of the group of slats or cylinders produces a different image and when properly functioning allows on a single sign structure the display at any given time one of two or more images.
V-TYPE SIGN. Two or three signs in the shape of the letter "v" or of a triangle, when viewed from above, and supported by integral structures with their faces oriented in different directions.
WALL SIGN. A sign that is attached parallel to, and within six inches of a wall, painted on the wall surface of, or erected and confined within the limits of an outside wall or roof of any building or structure, which is supported by such wall or building, and which displays only one sign surface. Included in this definition is a sign attached to the wall of a penthouse or other vertical structure on the top of a roof.
WINDOW SIGN. Any sign that is placed upon the exterior or interior windowpanes of glass and is visible from the exterior of the window. Does not include signs that are not attached to the interior of the window and viewable from the outside of the window.
(Ord. 667-19, passed 11-18-2019)