The following terms used in this title are defined as follows:
A-FRAME SIGN: A temporary sign ordinarily in the shape of the letter "A" or some variation thereof, which is displayed on the ground, not permanently attached to the ground, and usually two-sided, generally connected at the top and separated at the bottom.
ANIMATED SIGN: A sign that uses moving or changing lights to depict action, movement, or the optical illusion of movement of part of the sign structure, sign, or pictorial segment, or including the movement of any illumination or the flashing or varying of light intensity to create a special effect or scene. Animated signs do not include electronic message signs.
ATTENTION GETTING DEVICE: Signs, devices, or ornamentations designed for the purpose of attracting attention or promotion, except as otherwise expressly permitted in this title. Attention getting devices include banners, sails/feather signs, temporary on-premises pole signs, and the like. Federal, State, or local flags, or flags of fraternal, religious, and civic organizations, banners, and temporary holiday decorations are not considered attention getting devices.
AWNING/AWNING SIGN: An awning is a roof-like cover designed for protection from the weather or as a decorative embellishment, which projects from a wall or roof of a structure over a window, walkway, or door, with no supports that extend to the ground. An awning sign is a sign printed or displayed upon an awning.
BALLOON SIGN: A sign or advertising device designed to be airborne or inflated and tethered to the ground or other structure. This includes any air-inflated signs and any signs that inflate and move via air inflation.
BANNER: A temporary sign printed upon flexible material mounted with or without rigid frames on a building or the ground.
BLADE (PROJECTING) SIGN: A sign that is attached to a rigid structure that extends more than eighteen inches (18") beyond the surface of the structure to which it is attached. A marquee sign is not considered a blade sign.
CANOPY: A roof-like cover designed for protection from the weather or as a decorative embellishment affixed to a building, or which is freestanding, and with supports that extend to the ground. A canopy may be one (1) of the following types:
Canopy - Non-Structural: A roofed structure attached to a building, which is not integral to the structure, that is made of durable, weather-resistant material such as canvas, canvas-like material, nylon, or vinyl-coated fabric, placed to extend outward from the building and supported both by mountings on the structure wall and by supports that extend to the ground.
Canopy - Structural: A roofed structure constructed of permanent building materials, such as metal, brick, stone, wood or similar building materials, that is constructed as part of and attached to a building, and extends outward from the building and supported both by the structure and by supports that extend to the ground. Certain structural canopies may also be constructed freestanding accessory structures on the same lot with the principal use and/or structure.
CANOPY SIGN: A sign printed, mounted, or installed upon a canopy.
CHANGEABLE MESSAGE BOARD SIGN: A sign designed where a portion of the sign area allows for a message to be changed manually. A changeable message board sign does not include electronic message signs or portable reader-board sign.
ELECTRONIC MESSAGE SIGN: A sign designed where a portion of the sign area uses changing light emitting diodes (LEDs), fiber optics, light bulbs or other illumination devices within the electronic display panel(s) to form a message or messages in text and/or image from where the sequence of messages and the rate of change is electronically programmed and can be modified by electronic processes. Time/temperature signs are not considered electronic message signs. Flashing signs, animated signs, and video display signs are not considered electronic message signs.
EXTERNAL ILLUMINATION: Illumination by an artificial source of light not internal to the sign face.
FLAG: Flags of any nation, state, municipality, or political subdivision, flags officially designated as a national, state, or local symbol, or flags of fraternal, religious, and civic organizations. Pennants and sails are not considered flags.
FLASHING SIGN: A sign with an intermittent or sequential flashing light source used primarily to attract attention. Flashing signs do not include electronic message signs.
FLOODLIGHT: A powerful light, typically in a grouping of several lights, used to illuminate the exterior of a building or sign.
GROUND SIGN: A sign that is placed on or supported by the ground, independent of the principal structure on the lot, designed with a monument base that is an integral part of the sign structure. A ground sign must be designed so that the width of the top of the sign face is a minimum of seventy percent (70%) and a maximum of one hundred thirty percent (130%) of the width of the base, unless designed with decorative posts as permitted by the ground sign regulations of this title. The following types of ground signs are regulated by this title:
Ground Sign - Multi-Tenant Retail Center: A ground sign used to identify a commercial development with two (2) or more tenants.
Ground Sign - Residential Subdivision: A ground sign used to identify a residential subdivision.
Ground Sign - Standard: A ground sign that identifies an establishment that is not specifically categorized as a residential subdivision ground sign or a multi-tenant retail center ground sign.
LIGHT POLE BANNER: Banners mounted on and with arms installed perpendicular to light poles.
MARQUEE: A permanent roof-like structure constructed of permanent building materials that extends from the wall of a structure with no supports extending to the ground providing protection from the elements.
MARQUEE SIGN: A sign that is a part of or attached to a marquee. Where designed as a changeable message sign, the changeable message portion may be manually changed or electronically changed when permitted by this title.
MENUBOARD: A sign constructed as part of drive-through facilities.
MOVING SIGN: A sign where the entire sign structure or a portion of which rotates, moves, elevates, or in any way alters position or geometry. A tri-vision sign where triangular prisms rotate inside a frame to show a new message and/or information are considered moving signs. Moving signs do not include clocks or barber poles.
MULTI-TENANT RETAIL CENTER: A commercial development under unified control consisting of two (2) or more separate commercial establishments sharing a common building, or which are in separate buildings that share a common access/entranceway or parking area.
NEON: A source of light for externally lit street signs supplied by a neon tube that is bent to form letters, symbols, or other shapes.
NITS: A luminance unit equal to one (1) candle per square meter measured perpendicular to the rays from the source.
NONCOMMERCIAL MESSAGE: The expression of noncommercial ideas and messages. A noncommercial message does not direct attention to a business, product, service, commercial entertainment, or other commercial activity offered on or off the premises.
OFF-PREMISES COMMERCIAL SIGN - PERMANENT: A permanent sign directing attention to a specific business, product, service, entertainment event, activity, or other commercial activity that is not sold, produced, manufactured, furnished, or conducted at the property upon which the sign is located. Also called a billboard.
OFF-PREMISES COMMERCIAL SIGN - TEMPORARY: A temporary sign directing attention to a specific business, product, service, entertainment event, activity, or other commercial activity that is not sold, produced, manufactured, furnished, or conducted at the property upon which the sign is located. This includes any ground-mounted, building-mounted, or sign painted, pasted, or otherwise affixed to any tree, rock, fence, utility pole, hydrant, bridge, sidewalk, parkway, curb or street, bench, or trash receptacle that directs attention off-premises.
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.
PYLON SIGN: A type of ground sign that is affixed, attached, or erected on one (1) or more poles, uprights, or braces from the ground and not supported by a building or a base structure. Pylon signs are any ground signs that do not meet the design and construction standards of this title for a ground sign. Pylon signs do not include permitted attention getting devices, such as temporary pole signs, ground-mounted banners, or other freestanding signs specifically allowed by this title.
PORTABLE READER-BOARD SIGN: A sign whose principal supporting structure is intended, by design and construction, to rest upon the ground for support and may be easily moved or relocated for reuse. Portable reader-board signs include, but are not limited to, signs mounted upon a trailer, wheeled carrier, or other non-motorized mobile structure, with wheels or with wheels removed. Portable reader-board signs do not include A-frame signs.
PUBLIC INFORMATION/EVENT SIGN: Temporary signs that provide information on a public event or provide public information that contains no commercial advertising except for sponsor names and logos.
RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION: A residential neighborhood developed as an integrated whole and typically with a specific identity.
ROOF SIGN: A sign that is erected, constructed, or maintained on and/or extending above the roof structure or parapet of any building with the principal support attached to the roof structure.
SAFETY GLASS: Glass designed to prevent splintering when broken, such as toughened/tempered glass, laminated glass, and wire mesh glass.
SEARCHLIGHT: An attention-getting device where an artificial light of high intensity is shined upward in a focused beam and can turn in any direction to attract attention to a location. Also known as sky-beams or sky spotlights.
SIGN: A lettered, numbered, symbolic, pictorial, or illuminated visual display designed to identify, announce, direct, or inform that is visible from a public right-of-way.
SIGN COPY: The elements of a sign that communicate the message including, but not limited to, words, logos, designs, figures, or other symbols that relay the subject matter or message.
SUSPENDED SIGN: A sign suspended from the underside of the horizontal plane surface of an awning, canopy, cantilever, marquee, arcade or gallery. Under-awning signs are distinct from blade signs, which are attached to the structure.
VIDEO DISPLAY SIGN: A sign, or portion of a sign, that displays an electronic video, whether pre-recorded or streaming.
WALL SIGN: A sign that is attached directly to an exterior wall of a building or dependent upon a building for support and projects eighteen inches (18") or less from the wall of a structure with the exposed face of the sign in a plane substantially parallel to the face of the wall. Window signs are not considered wall signs.
WINDOW SIGN: A sign that is attached to, placed upon, or printed on the interior or exterior of a window or door of a building, or displayed on the interior within two feet (2') of a window intended for viewing from the exterior of such a building. A window sign may be either permanent or temporary. Shadowbox design within display windows, where the window display is designed with a background enclosure against which signs are mounted that blocks view into the establishment, is considered a window sign and the entire area of the shadowbox is subject to the maximum sign area limitation.
(Ord. 2017-4-198, 4-17-2017)