Unless otherwise expressly provided in this chapter, all signs shall comply with the following location requirements:
(a) Public Property. No sign shall be placed on any public property, including but not limited to any city building, sidewalk, crosswalk, curb, street lamp post, hydrant, tree, shrub, tree stake or guard, railroad trestle, electric light or power or telephone or telegraph wire pole or wire appurtenance thereof or upon any fixture of the fire alarm system or upon any lighting system, street sign or traffic sign, except for signs that comply with the city’s adopted parklet standards affixed to parklets permitted via permit per PAMC Chapter 12.11.
(1) Nothing in this section shall apply to the installation of terrazzo sidewalks or sidewalks of similar construction, sidewalks permanently colored by an admixture in the material of which the sidewalks is constructed and for which the department of public works has granted a written permit.
(2) Nothing in this section shall apply to the painting of house numbers on curbs pursuant to Chapter 16.36.
(3) Application may be made for an encroachment permit pursuant to Chapter 12.12 for the installation of a metal plaque commemorating an historical, cultural or artistic event, location or personality. The department of public works may grant such an encroachment permit only upon the approval of the city council.
(4) Application may be made for an encroachment permit pursuant to Chapter 12.12 for a portable sign to be placed on public property. The department of public works may grant such an encroachment permit only upon architectural review approval of the sign pursuant to Chapter 18.76 (Permits and Approvals) and pursuant to the guidelines for portable signs adopted by the architectural review board.
(5) Application may be made, pursuant to Section 16.20.050, for a temporary sign on public property if the sign commemorates or relates to a season or an historical, cultural or artistic event.
(6) Any sign found posted on public property contrary to the provisions of this section may be removed by the division of inspectional services or the police department.
(b) Fire Escapes. No sign shall be erected in such a manner that any portion of the sign or its support is attached to or will interfere with the free use of any fire escape, exit or standpipe, or obstruct any required stairway, door ventilator or window.
(c) Marquees. No sign shall be placed upon the roof or on the face of any marquee except on a theater.
(d) Traffic. No sign shall be erected in such a manner that it will or reasonably may be expected to interfere with, obstruct, confuse or mislead traffic.
(e) Intersections. No sign over three feet in height shall be erected at the intersection of any street improved for vehicular traffic, within a triangular area formed by the curb lines, and their projection and a line connecting them at points thirty-five feet from the intersection of the projected curb lines, unless the sign, in compliance with the provisions of this chapter, has a clearance of at least ten feet above curb grade and no part of whose means of support has a single or combined horizontal cross-section exceeding eight inches.
(f) Residential Districts. No sign shall be erected in any residential district except as provided below:
(1) Churches and Other Organizations. In all residential districts churches and other permitted or conditional uses in the district may erect signs on the premises identifying the premises or announcing activities thereon.
(2) Identifying Signs. In all residential districts except R-1, R-E and R-2, signs may be erected identifying the property or building on which the sign is situated.
(3) Special Purpose Signs. Special purpose signs may be erected in residential districts in compliance with the provisions of Section 16.20.160.
(4) Size and Height. Except as otherwise provided in Section 16.20.160, wall signs in residential districts shall not exceed an area of one square foot of sign for each forty square feet of wall area except that regardless of the size of the building face, (1) any such sign or combination of signs may have an area of at least six square feet and (2) no such sign or combination of signs shall have an area greater than one hundred fifty square feet. Freestanding signs shall meet the requirements of Table 1*. No projecting signs or roof signs shall be erected.
(5) Lighting of Signs. No sign in a residential district shall be constructed in such a way that any light bulb, light filament, neon tubing or similar material is visible from the front of the sign or from beyond the property line.
(6) PC Planned Community Districts. Unless otherwise provided in the ordinance approving the PC development, signs hereafter erected in PC districts shall be governed by the rules applicable to residential districts as set forth in this subsection.
(7) Signs on Landscaped Freeways. Notwithstanding anything elsewhere contained in this chapter, no sign shall be erected on any property adjacent to a section of landscaped freeway, expressway or any other landscaped limited access street or highway in such a way as to be viewed by persons traveling on such landscaped freeway, expressway or any other landscaped limited access street or highway except when such sign is used exclusively:
(A) To advertise the sale or lease of the property upon which the sign is situated; or
(B) To designate the name of the owner or occupant of the premises upon which the sign is situated, or to identify such premises.
(Ord. 5594 § 9, 2024: Ord. 4826 § 12, 2004: Ord. 4797 § 2, 2003: Ord. 3359 § 1 (part), 1984)
* Editor's Note: Table 1, referred to herein, may be found at the end of this chapter in a printed edition of this code.