(A) Removal. Signs advertising an activity, business, product, or service no longer conducted on the premises on which the sign is located, or sign frames, structural members, or supporting poles remaining unused for six months or longer, or signs which are abandoned or dilapidated shall be removed from the site. Signs will be considered abandoned or dilapidated where the sign or element of it is excessively weathered, torn, broken, significantly damaged or structurally unsound or where the copy can no longer be seen or understood by a person with normal eyesight under normal viewing conditions. For purposes of this chapter, EXCESSIVELY WEATHERED shall mean, including but not limited to, signs where the condition of the paint or structural material has become so deteriorated as to permit decay, excessive checking, cracking, peeling, chalking, fading, dry rot or warping. Removal shall be at the expense of the property owner on which the sign in question is located.
(B) Continued use of abandoned signs. The owner of a sign, the purpose of which has been abandoned, who desires to make subsequent use of the structural portions of such sign in its present location, may, within six months after the abandonment, make an application to the Planning Director for an extension of time. Where the sign conforms to all other requirements of the law, and where the owner submits reasonable evidence that he is endeavoring to secure use for the sign (a new tenant for the structure or the arrival of a new product line for the existing tenant), the Planning Director may grant extensions of time. The Planning Director may require the owner, as a condition of the granting of such extension, paint out, obscure, or remove some or all elements of the message or face portion of the sign in such a manner as to leave the remaining structure neat and unobtrusive in appearance in harmony with the structure to which it is attached, and that this be done within 30 days after the granting of such extension. Failure to do so shall void and nullify any such extension. Signs which are determined by the city to be structurally unsound and dangerous or hazardous to the public safety or welfare shall be removed immediately upon notification by the city. Removal shall be at the expense of the property owner on which the sign in question is located.
(Ord. 864 C.S., passed 11-4-09; Am. Ord. 868 C.S., passed 5-5-10)