The purpose of this chapter is to:
(1) Implement the city's community design and safety standards set forth in the general plan; and
(2) Maintain and enhance the city's appearance by regulating the design, character, location, number, type, quality of materials, size, illumination and maintenance of signs; and
(3) Protect and improve pedestrian and vehicular traffic safety by balancing the need for signs which facilitate the safe and smooth flow of traffic (i.e., traffic directional signs) without an excess of signage which may distract motorists, overload their capacity to quickly receive information, visually obstruct traffic signs or otherwise create congestion and safety hazards; and
(4) Eliminate the traffic safety hazards to pedestrians and motorists posed by off-site signs bearing commercial messages; and
(5) Generally limit commercial signage to on-site locations in order to protect the aesthetic environment from the visual clutter associated with the unrestricted proliferation of signs, while providing channels of communication to the public; and
(6) Allow the communication of information for commercial and noncommercial purposes without regulating the content of noncommercial messages; and
(7) Allow the expression of political, religious and other noncommercial speech at all times, and allow for an increase in the quantity of such speech in the period preceding elections; and
(8) Respect and protect the right of free speech by sign display, while reasonably regulating the structural, locational and other non-communicative aspects of signs, generally for the public health, safety, welfare, and specifically to serve the public interests in traffic and pedestrian safety and community aesthetics; and
(9) Minimize the possible adverse effects of signs on nearby public and private property; and
(10) Serve the city's interests in maintaining and enhancing its visual appeal for tourists and other visitors, by preventing the degradation of visual quality which can result from excess signage; and
(11) Protect the investments in property and lifestyle quality made by persons who choose to live, work, or do business in the city; and
(12) Defend the peace and tranquility of residential zones and neighborhoods by generally forbidding commercial signs on private residences, while allowing residents the opportunity, within reasonable limits, to express political, religious and other noncommercial messages from their homes; and
(13) Enable the fair, consistent, and efficient enforcement of the sign regulations of the city.
(Ord. 612 Exhibit A (part), 2008).