This Chapter is established to promote the general health, safety and welfare of residents and visitors of the City of Huron by establishing sign regulations, as necessary to ensure that signs are in harmony with the character of the associated use and surrounding area and installed and maintained in a safe manner. A sign may be erected, placed, established, painted, created or maintained in the City of Huron only in conformance with the standards, procedures, exemptions and other requirements of this chapter.
(a) As more specifically set forth herein, the purposes of these sign regulations are to:
(1) Provide reasonable, yet appropriate, conditions for identifying businesses and commercial enterprises;
(2) Allow for easy identification of the type of activity to which the sign pertains (residential, business, and industrial districts) and of the community as a whole;
(3) Control the size, location and design so that signs will be aesthetically harmonious with their surroundings;
(4) Eliminate any conflict which would be hazardous between business or identification signs and traffic control signs and devices;
(5) Promote and maintain attractive, high value residential districts;
(6) Provide review procedures which enable the City to comprehensively evaluate the appropriateness of the sign to the site, building and surroundings;
(7) Assure that signs are located and designed to maintain a safe and orderly pedestrian and vehicular environment; and,
(8) Prohibit all signs not expressly permitted by this Zoning Code.
(b) For the purpose of this Chapter, a "sign" and associated definitions as referenced by this code include the following:
(1) "Address Sign" means signs showing a resident's name and / or street number.
(2) "Advertising Sign" means a sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, service, or entertainment conducted, sold, or offered either on location, or offered elsewhere than on the lot the sign is located.
(3) "Air Markers" means signs or groups of signs painted on a large roof or the side of a tall structure to give aeronautical or geographic information to the pilot of a passing aircraft.
(4) "Awning Sign" means signs painted upon a cloth, plastic or metal surface supported by a frame adequate to support the structure fastened to the front of a building.
(5) "Billboard Sign" means any structure, including the wall of any building, on which lettered, figured, or pictorial matter is displayed for advertising either: (1) a business, service, entertainment, activity or event which is not conducted on the land upon which the structure is located; (2) a product which is not primarily sold, manufactured, processed or fabricated on the land upon which the structure is located; (3) a geographical location or place which is not located on the land upon which the structure is located; or (4) a person. However, any structure which meets the definition of a directional sign shall not be considered to be a billboard.
(6) "Building Identification Signs" show the name and date of erection of the building upon which they are displayed. They are typically cut into masonry surfaces or constructed of bronze or other durable materials.
(7) "Canopy Sign" means signs mounted or placed upon a cloth, plastic or metal surface supported by a metal frame fastened to a building at one end and supported on the other.
(8) "Changeable copy" means a non-electronic sign on which the message or graphics are not permanently affixed to the structure, framing or background, but which may be manually replaced (ex. bulletin and announcement boards).
(9) "Contractor Sign" means a temporary sign located at an active construction site to inform the public of the name of the project, name of the contractor, name of the engineer and similar data.
(10) "Directional or Instructional Signs" means signs directing traffic (vehicular, marine, pedestrian, bicycle, etc.) to a given site, premises or facility.
(11) "Electronic message board" means a sign or changing display, copy or message board, composed of a series of lights that may be changed automatically and/or remotely through electronic means. Display screens, such as those installed at gas / fuel station pumps for advertisement, with audio components are also included in this category.
(12) "Feather Signs" means a freestanding type of attention getting device made of fabric or nylon affixed to a light weight pole used for attracting attention, promotion, or advertising. May also be called a flag or teardrop sign. See Figure 1129.01 below:
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(13) "Flashing Signs" means signs, other than time-temperature signs, in which intermittent flashing of lights is used to accentuate the sign's message.
(14) "Geographical Area Signs" designate the location of a group of related sites or activities such as Chaska Beach, Huron Plaza or Huron Corporate Park.
(15) "Ground sign" means a permanent outdoor sign supported by one or more uprights or braces in or upon the ground and includes ground supported pole signs.
(16) "Identification Sign" means a sign intended to announce or promote the use, activity, service or business on the premises, such as a park, neighborhood, or specific district.
(17) "Illuminated Sign" means signs in which all or a portion of the message is outlined by fluorescent tubes, low-wattage lamps or other sources or by floodlighting the surface of the sign. Illuminated signs also include installations where the entire sign or portions of it are backlit by an internal light source.
(18) "Marquee Sign" means signs mounted upon an integral structural component with a covered framework of permanent nature projecting from the face of a building above an entrance and open on three sides.
(19) "Monument Sign" means a ground sign generally having a low profile with little or no open space between the ground and the sign and having a structure constructed of masonry, wood, or materials similar in appearance. The base of these signs are typically landscaped.
(20) "Political Signs" means temporary signs advocating the candidacy of a certain individual or group or the passage or defeat of a political issue.
(21) "Portable Signs" means any signs designed to be transported, including but not limited to signs with wheels removed; with chassis or support constructed without wheels; designed to be transported by trailer or wheels; converted to A or T-frame signs; attached temporarily or permanently to the ground, structure or other signs; mounted on a vehicle or watercraft for advertising purposes, parking and visible from the public right-of-way, except signs identifying the related business when the vehicle is being used in the normal day-to-day operations of that business; searchlight stands; and air or gas-filled balloons or umbrellas used for advertising.
(22) "Professional Occupation Signs" mean signs listing the profession or occupation of a building resident.
(23) "Projecting sign" means a permanent outdoor sign which is affixed or pinned to a building wall and projects from the building wall a distance more than twelve (12) inches.
(24) "Real Estate Signs" means temporary signs indicating the availability for sale or lease of the premises upon which located.
(25) "Roof sign" means a sign which is displayed above the eaves and below the roof line. This also includes signs painted or displayed directly upon the roof of a building.
(26) "Safety Signs" means any signs used by the City, County, State or Federal Government, or any board, commission or subdivision thereof, for the warning, guidance or protection of the public, and particularly includes all traffic signs and devices.
(27) "Signable area" of the building means an area of the facade of the building up to the roof line which is free of windows and doors or major architectural detail.
(28) "Street Clock Signs" means advertising messages displayed upon the surface of a clock mounted upon the face of a building or upon the adjacent sidewalk and designed primarily to attract the attention of pedestrian traffic.
(29) "Suspended Signs" means banners or framed signs supported by suspension between two fixed objects.
(30) "Temporary Signs" means signs fabricated of paper, cardboard, plywood, fabric or other light, impermanent material intended to be displayed unchanged. Such signs are limited to special event purposes and for a period not to exceed thirty days in advance or eight days after the campaign or activity for which they were erected. Temporary signs of a political nature as previously defined shall not be subject to the time regulations herein.
(31) "Time-temperature Signs" are designed to project current information on time and temperatures through the display of illuminated figures and do not include advertising messages.
(32) "Wall sign" means an outdoor sign affixed or attached to the wall of a building or other structure and projecting not more than twelve (12) inches from the face of the wall and installed generally parallel to the wall's face.
(33) "Warning Signs" means private signs warning of the dangers of trespass upon the premises where placed.
(34) "Window sign" means any arrangement of letters, figures, symbols or other devices used for advertisement, announcement, direction or declaration, intended to attract or inform the public, which is affixed to, painted on, or placed inside of a window so as to be read or viewed from the outside. The glass or clear plastic portion of an exterior door shall be considered a window for purposes of this definition.
(35) "Window sign, permanent" shall be any window sign intended to be displayed for thirty (30) days or more.
(36) "Window sign, temporary" shall be any window sign intended to be displayed for temporary purposes.
(Ord. 2015-8. Passed 8-25-15.)