(A) Findings. The City Council hereby finds as follows:
(1) Exterior signs have a substantial impact on the character and quality of the environment.
(2) Signs provide an important medium through which individuals may convey a variety of messages.
(3) Signs can create traffic hazards, aesthetic concerns and detriments to property values, thereby threatening the public health, safety and welfare.
(4) The city’s zoning regulations have included the regulation of signs in an effort to provide adequate means of expression and to promote the economic viability of the business community, while protecting the city and its citizens from a proliferation of signs of a type, size, location and character that would adversely impact upon the aesthetics of the community and threaten the health, safety and welfare of the community. The regulation of the physical characteristics of signs within the city has had a positive impact on traffic safety and the appearance of the community.
(B) Purpose and intent. It is not the purpose or intent of this subchapter to regulate the message displayed on any sign; nor is it the purpose or intent of this subchapter to regulate any building design or any display not defined as a sign, or any sign which cannot be viewed from outside a building. The purpose and intent of this subchapter is to:
(1) Regulate the number, location, size, type, illumination and other physical characteristics of signs within the city in order to promote the public health, safety and welfare.
(2) Maintain, enhance and improve the aesthetic environment of the city by preventing visual clutter that is harmful to the appearance of the community.
(3) Improve the visual appearance of the city while providing for effective means of communication, consistent with constitutional guarantees and the city’s goals of public safety and aesthetics.
(4) Provide for fair and consistent enforcement of the sign regulations set forth herein under the zoning authority of the city.
(5) To preserve and protect the integrity of the Lake Country Scenic Byway designation by preventing visual clutter that is harmful to the appearance of the scenic byway.
(C) Effect. A sign may be erected, mounted, displayed or maintained in the city if it is in conformance with the provisions of this subchapter. The effect of this subchapter, as more specifically set forth herein, is to:
(1) Allow a wide variety of sign types in commercial zones, and a more limited variety of signs in other zones, subject to the standards set forth in this subchapter.
(2) Allow certain small, unobtrusive signs incidental to the principal use of a site in all zones when in compliance with the requirements of this subchapter.
(3) Prohibit signs whose location, size, type, illumination or other physical characteristic negatively affect the environment and where the communication can be accomplished by means having a lesser impact on the environment and the public health, safety and welfare.
(4) Provide for the enforcement of this subchapter.
(D) Scope. This subchapter shall not regulate official traffic or government signs; signs not intended to be viewed from a public right-of-way; window displays; product dispensers and point of purchase displays; scoreboards on athletic fields; flags bearing any noncommercial message; gravestones; barber poles; religious symbols; commemorative plaques; the display of street numbers; or any display or construction not defined herein as a sign.
(Ord. 494, passed 9-25-2007)