The purposes of this article are as follows:
(A) To enhance the city's appearance, promote the growth of the city in an orderly, efficient and attractive manner, promote traffic safety, and provide minimum standards to safeguard life, health, property and public welfare by regulating and controlling the design, materials, construction, illumination, number, size, location and maintenance of signs.
(B) To protect and improve pedestrian and vehicular traffic safety by reducing hazards and visual clutter and obstructions of the line by sight caused by signs.
(C) To implement the city's design and aesthetic standards, as set out in the city's general plan, specific plans, zoning ordinances and other regulations.
(D) To allow the exercise of free speech by signs, while reasonably regulating the structural, locational and other noncommunicative aspects of signs to serve the foregoing public interests in city aesthetics and traffic and pedestrian safety.
(E) To exempt from this article those signs listed in subsections (A) through (E) of the definition of "sign" because such signs are exempt by law or are required by law or provide public benefits that outweigh any adverse impacts.
(F) To exempt election signs from the requirement for a sign permit because such signs must be removed within 10 days after the election so that the adverse impacts of such signs are short term and are outweighed by the public benefits of informing the electorate.
(`64 Code, Sec. 34-179) (Ord. No. 1573, 2687)