(a) The following words and phrases whenever used in this chapter shall be construed as defined in this section:
(1) "Awning" means a shelter supported entirely from the exterior wall of a building and composed of a collapsible frame covered completely with nonrigid material.
(2) "Building face" means the general outer surface of a main exterior wall of a building. For example, a building whose plan is rectangular has four main exterior walls and four building faces.
(3) "Design guidelines" mean documents adopted by the architectural review board to afford guidance to the public and to city staff containing general design parameters for areas of the city having unified design or historical character.
(4) "Erect" means and includes erect, construct, place, relocate, enlarge, substantially alter, attach, suspend, paint, post, maintain and display.
(5) "Flashing sign" means any sign or advertising structure which has any flashing device, intermittent illumination, revolving or rotating light device in which the brilliance thereof is caused to vary by mechanical or other means.
(6) "Freestanding sign" means any sign standing on the ground. Such signs are usually, but not necessarily, supported from the ground by one or more poles or posts or similar uprights, with or without braces.
(7) "Frontage" means a frontage on a public street.
(8) "Marquee" means any permanent roofed structure attached to and supported by a building and projecting over public property.
(9) "Moving sign" means any sign or advertising structure which has any visible moving parts, visible revolving or rotating parts or visible mechanical movement of any description, excepting clocks and barber poles.
(10) "Mural" means a work of art applied to a building wall for decorative purposes only. Use of murals for advertising is not permitted.
(11) "Pitched roof' means a roof with a slope of a four-inch rise in a twelve-inch run, or greater.
(12) "Projecting sign" means any sign, other than a wall sign, which is suspended from or supported by a building or wall and which projects outward therefrom. Any sign suspended under a marquee, porch, walkway covering or similar covering structure and in a place approximately perpendicular to the wall of the adjoining building shall be deemed to be a projecting sign.
(13) "Roof sign" means any sign erected upon or over the roof or parapet of any building, including the roof of any porch, walkway covering or similar covering structure, and supported by or connected to the building or roof.
(14) "Sign" means any sign, display board, handbill, poster, picture, lithograph, map, plat, banner, pennant, balloon, valance, sample, model, graphic or lettered surround, structure or other device used to announce, declare, demonstrate, display, advertise or attract the attention of the public, including but not limited to clocks, barber poles and similar devices.
(15) "Sign area" means and is determined as follows:
(A) Where the lettered or illustrated material of a sign is placed upon a sign board or other sign structure having a continuous or essentially continuous surface or face (whether plane, curved, angulated or otherwise), the exposed surface or face area of such sign board or sign structure shall be the sign area.
(B) Where the lettered or illustrated material of a sign is not placed as described in subdivision (15)(A) of this subsection, but is framed either mechanically or visually by the design or layout of the sign itself, then the area so framed shall be the sign area.
(C) Where the lettered or illustrated material is not placed or framed in the manner described in subdivisions (15)(A) or (15)(B) of this subsection, but is composed either vertically, horizontally, diagonally or otherwise, essentially in the form of a rectangle, parallelogram, pyramid or similar geometric figure, the area of the geometric figure within which such material could be enclosed shall be the sign area; except that when the space between the elements comprising the sign exceeds one and one-half times the average size of the elements themselves, the area of the elements may be measured separately as provided in subdivision (15)(D) of this subsection.
(D) Where the lettered or illustrative material is not placed, framed or composed as described in subdivisions (15)(A), (15)(B) or (15)(C) of this subsection, the total area of the rectangles or other simple geometric shapes within which the individual words, letters, illustrations, or other elements comprising the sign could be enclosed shall be the sign area.
(16) "Temporary sign" means any sign constructed of paper, cloth, canvas, light fabric, cardboard, wallboard or other light material, with or without frames.
(17) “Wall sign” means any sign posted or painted or suspended from or otherwise fixed to the wall of any building or structure in an essentially flat position, or with the exposed face of the sign in a plane approximately parallel to the plane of such wall. Any sign suspended from or attached to, and placed approximately parallel to the front of a canopy, porch, or similar covering structure shall be deemed to be a wall sign.
(Ord. 5373 § 1 (part), 2016; Ord. 3559 § 1 (part), 1984)