The standards presented in this section are advisory only.
(a) Wall Signs.
(1) The size and location of building signs shall be reviewed in terms of their relationship to the building entry, height of sign fascia, or size of wall where the sign is to be installed and the relationship to other signs on a building, as well as visibility from the street, sidewalk or parking lot.
(2) On multi-tenant establishments, building signs shall be evaluated for compatibility as part of a sign program with the building fascia and neighboring signs in terms of size, color, lighting materials, sign style, and quality. It shall be the responsibility of the property owner of a multi-tenant establishment to determine if the sign area shall be devoted to identification of the building, the anchor occupant(s), all occupants, or some combination thereof.
(b) Freestanding and Projecting Signs.
(1) Permanent freestanding signs and support elements of freestanding signs shall be of a style, material, and design compatible with the associated building.
(2) Freestanding and projecting signs shall be sited so that they are not obscured by, or interfere with, the location of street trees and other site landscaping.
(c) Shape. A single simple, common geometric form such as rectangle, square, circle, or oval is often preferable to a more elaborate shape or combination of shapes.
(d) Color.
(1) Colors used should provide sufficient contrast between the message and the background of the sign to assure readability. Use of no more than four (4) colors (including black and white and the background color of the sign) is preferable.
(2) Use of bright colors as accents is preferred to their use as dominant colors. Dark, subdued hues are preferred to de-emphasize visible support structures like pylons or projecting sign hangers, especially if such structures are not ornamental.
(e) Lettering Size.
(1) Lettering on signs intended to be read from the street should be no larger than required for readability from the street, taking into account the prevalence of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, traffic speeds, and setback of the sign.
A. On signs intended to be read by motorists in the street, lettering too small to be safely readable at prevailing traffic speeds should be avoided. The following letter heights are recommended based upon traffic speed:
Standard Letter Height Guidelines | |
Speed Limit | Letter Height |
25 mph | 7 inches |
35 mph | 9 inches |
45 mph | 12 inches |
55 mph | 15 inches |
B. In most cases, letter heights exceeding one and one-half (1.5) feet should not be needed for legibility.
(2) Use of no more than two sizes of lettering, excluding lettering on changeable copy areas, is preferred.
(f) Fonts (Type Faces or Styles).
(1) Use of no more than two type fonts on a sign is preferred. Use of simpler fonts or highly legible versions of stylized fonts, such as Traditional Roman, Gothic, Gothic Block, Ornamental Text, and Italic fonts or similar styles are preferred for readability. Readability is enhanced when the width of the stroke of a letter (e.g., the thickness of the vertical line used to make each side of a capital "H") should be approximately one-fifth (1/5) its height. For longer words and messages, upper and lower-case letters are more readable than all upper-case.
(2) The number of fonts used for wall signs in multi-tenant properties like shopping centers should not be excessive, and such signs should share a common base line.
(g) Spacing. Spacing between words in a line of copy should be approximately the uppercase letter height used in that line of copy. Interline spacing should be approximately three-fourths (3/4) the average of upper-case letter heights in adjacent lines of letters. Where a sign has a border, the sign should contain sufficient blank space around the copy for legibility, approximately equal to the average of the letter height of the adjacent line of letters.
(Ord. 09-20. Passed 6-22-09.)
(h) Length of Message. Message content should be kept brief, particularly when employing scrolling or other multi-line messaging on electronic message boards.
(Ord. 11-54. Passed 12-19-11.)