The following signs shall be exempt from regulation under this chapter:
(A) Any traffic sign, public notice or warning required by a valid and applicable federal, state or local law, regulation or ordinance;
(B) Holiday lights and decorations in residential lots with no commercial message; and retail store window displays of merchandise, freestanding three-dimensional promotional items (with or without proprietary words or symbols solely describing the merchandise and/or merchandise that is sold in the store) and/or display fixtures or backdrops not affixed to windowpanes or glass;
(C) Traffic control signs on private property, such as “stop,” “yield” and similar signs, and which contain no commercial message;
(D) Signs within a ballpark, field or diamond which indicates sponsorship of the teams or activities that occur therein and which cannot be seen from a public street or adjacent properties are allowed;
(E) Directional signs that assist the public in locating community facilities or health care facilities, as approved by the Director of Works and the Planning Director based on a finding by the Directors that the signs are necessary to promote public health and safety. Directional signs may be located in the right-of-way or on private property, with permission of the property owner or public agency having jurisdiction over the right-of-way. The size, design and illumination shall be subject to approval by the Works and Planning Directors;
(F) Monumental commemorative sculpture and/or graphic art in any medium and including images depicting real or allegorical persons, noncommercial themes or symbols, historical scenes and events or idealized scenes, and inscribed dedications or quotations, permanently attached to and incorporated into the overall design of all or part of one or more facades of a community center, church, school, library, museum, hospital or similar public or private, not-for-profit, institutional or civic structures;
(G) Signs placed by a public utility for the safety, welfare or convenience of the public, including, but not limited to, signs identifying high voltage, public telephone or underground cables;
(H) Non-illuminated names of buildings, dates of erection, monument statues, commemorative tablets and the like when carved into stone, concrete, metal or any other permanent type of construction and made an integral part of an allowed structure or made flush to the ground;
(I) Non-illuminated signs used to identify a non-registered historic property and/or permanently preserved open space property (preserved meaning through the use of conservation easement or fee simple ownership) erected by a not-for-profit organization and/or government agency. No commercial messages shall be allowed on the sign. The sign shall be constructed from stone, metal or any other permanent type of construction and must be permanently anchored to the ground. The sign shall not exceed five square feet in area and six feet in height;
(J) Signs used to identify local landmark/national register historic sites;
(K) No trespassing signs not to exceed two square feet in area;
(L) Signs upon a vehicle, provided that any vehicle with a sign face of over two square feet is not conspicuously parked so as to constitute a sign; nothing herein prevents a vehicle from being used for bona fide delivery and other vehicular purposes;
(M) Animating features such as public art or murals of a noncommercial nature, as approved by the Planning Director;
(N) Address signs no greater than five square feet in area. Address signs in excess of five feet in area shall be considered attached business signs and shall be counted toward the number and area of attached signage permitted on a building facade;
(O) Signs required by law on a duly constituted governmental body; and
(Ord. 06-08, passed 4-6-2006)