No sign, billboard or exterior graphic display shall be permitted in any zoning district except in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(A) Purposes. The purpose of this section is to achieve balance among the following differing, and at times, competing goals:
(1) To encourage the effective use of signs as a means of communication for businesses, organizations and individuals in the county;
(2) To provide a means of way-finding in the county, thus reducing traffic congestion;
(3) To provide for adequate business identification, advertising and communication;
(4) To prohibit signs of an excessive size and number that they obscure one another to the detriment of the economic and social well-being of the county;
(5) To protect the safety and welfare of the public by minimizing hazards to pedestrian and vehicular traffic;
(6) To preserve property values by preventing unsightly and chaotic development which has a blighting influence on the county;
(7) To differentiate among those signs that, because of their location, may distract drivers on public streets and those that may provide information to them while they remain in their cars but out of active traffic;
(8) To minimize the possible adverse effects of signs on nearby public and private property; and
(9) To implement the goals and objectives of the gateways and appearance study, conducted in 2007 with assistance from Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning.
(B) Applicability. This section shall apply to all signs that are legible from any public right-of-way or from any lot other than the lot or premises on which the sign is located.
(C) General rules. The following rules, standards and principles shall apply to all signs located in the county.
(1) Any permitted sign shall be subject to the size and height limitations imposed by this section for the use district in which the sign is located, except as otherwise provided in this section.
(2) No sign or sign structure shall be placed upon any street or highway right-of-way except as otherwise provided in this section.
(3) No portion of a sign shall obscure visibility between a height of three feet and ten feet within an area defined by a triangle extending from a street intersection by a distance of 25 feet from the corner along the curb line of each street, with the third side of the triangle formed by connecting the other two legs of the triangle.
(4) No sign shall be erected or maintained at any location where by reason of its position, working, illumination, shape, symbol, color, form or character it may obstruct, impair, obscure, interfere with the view of, or may be confused with any authorized traffic sign, signal or device or interfere with, confuse or disrupt traffic safety or flow.
(5) No sign shall be erected, relocated or maintained so as to prevent free ingress or egress from any door, window or fire escape.
(D) Signs allowed without a sign permit. The following signs shall be exempt from the sign permit requirements of this section but shall be subject to all other standards of this section:
(1) Signs installed by employees or officials of the county that do not fall under one of the broader exemptions of this section;
(2) Detached signs smaller than two square feet in area and less than four feet in height, and containing no commercial message;
(3) Wall signs smaller than two square feet in area and containing no commercial message;
(4) Window signs permitted by this section, where the signs are not illuminated or otherwise electrified;
(5) Permanent signs smaller than seven square feet and permitted in residential or agricultural districts;
(6) Any sign not legible from a public right-of-way or property other than the lot or premises on which the sign is located;
(7) Routine maintenance of any sign, not involving structural changes to the sign;
(8) Changes of message, either manually or electronically, on an electronic message sign or changeable copy sign, subject to limitations of this section on the frequency of message changes; and
(9) Changes of sign panels or letters that do not involve structural changes to the sign.
(E) Signs that are partially exempt from this section. The following signs may be erected or constructed without a sign permit, but may be subject to additional regulations under this section. Where a sign is erected pursuant to a state statute or a court order, the sign may exceed the size standards of this section or otherwise deviate from the standards set forth in this section to the extent that the statute or court order expressly required the larger size or other deviation. In all other respects, these signs shall conform to the standards of this section:
(1) Signs conforming to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices and bearing no commercial message;
(2) Signs installed by employees or officials of a state or federal agency in the course of their governmental duties and bearing no commercial message;
(3) Signs required by a state or federal statute;
(4) Signs required by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
(5) Signs installed by public utilities in their rights-of-way or on their facilities and bearing no commercial message other than that message as necessary to identify the use; and
(6) Signs installed by a transit company with a franchise or other right to operate in the county, where those signs are installed along its routes and relate to schedules or other information about the transit route.
(F) Prohibited signs. The following signs are prohibited in all districts:
(1) Any sign erected or painted upon a fence, tree, standpipe, rock or other natural feature;
(2) Any sign attached to or painted on a fire escape or utility pole, except the manufacturer’s or installer’s ID plate which shall not be legible from a distance of more than three feet;
(3) Any sign which uses a word such as “Stop” or “Danger” prominently displayed and/or which is a copy or imitation of official traffic control signs except where those words are a part of an attraction title for a theater or other similar event or purpose;
(4) Signs which contain flashing or intermittent illuminations, except as required for traffic control. Changing the copy on a bulletin board, changeable copy or electronic message type sign in conformance with the provisions of division (I)(6) below shall not be considered a violation of this section;
(5) Portable signs; and
(6) Signs that produce sound or noise; cause interference with radio, telephone, television or other communication transmissions; produce or reflect motion pictures; emit visible smoke, vapor, particles or odor; are animated or produce any rotation, motion or movement. A sign on which the message is changed electronically not more than one time per minute shall not be considered to be an animated sign or a sign with movement.
(G) Signs in Residential and Conservation Districts.
(1) Each occupied lot in a Residential or Conservation District shall be allowed a total of four detached signs at any time, including not more than one permanent detached sign, and not more than three temporary detached signs. Each sign shall not exceed six square feet in area and six feet in height. These signs may not be illuminated. The permanent detached sign shall not contain a commercial message, and no more than two temporary signs on a lot in a residential district at any one time may contain a commercial message. The only commercial messages permitted on those signs are messages related to commercial activity lawfully conducted on the premises, including the lawful, occasional sale of personal property (such as through a garage sale or yard sale) or the sale, rental or lease of the premises.
(2) Signs related to the sale of personal property shall be removed within 24 hours after the end of the sale. Signs related to the sale, lease or rental of the premises shall be removed no later than the date on which the deed, lease or other document representing the transaction is completed. Any such sign may contain any message other than a commercial message. If a message relates to an election or special event, the sign shall be removed within seven days following the conclusion of the election or other event.
(3) Additional detached signs, permanent or temporary, of not more than two square feet in area and four feet in height are permitted, provided that the signs contain no commercial message and are not illuminated.
(H) Signs on institutional uses. Any school, house of worship or other institutional use permitted in a Business or Industrial District shall be allowed to have the signage allowed for a business or industry in that district or the signage allowed by this section. Any institutional use permitted in a Residential or Agricultural Zoning District shall be allowed to have the signage allowed by this section. The signage allowed for institutional uses is:
(1) One detached sign, not to exceed 24- square feet in area. This may include changeable copy signs, not to exceed 30% of the sign area. These signs may be illuminated and may not be located closer than ten feet from the pavement edge or edge of a street.
(2) Each use shall also be allowed one wall sign for each public entrance to the institutional use. These wall signs shall not exceed four-square feet in area each and shall not be illuminated.
(I) Signs in Business Districts. Business signs shall be permitted as an accessory use to any lawful business, industry or other use located on the same premises, subject to the following standards.
(1) Signs may contain any message that is not a commercial message.
(2) Except for signs expressly allowed under division (I)(9) below, signs shall not contain any commercial message related to any product or service not offered or produced on the premises.
(3) Signs shall not have an aggregate surface area greater than five-square feet for each foot of building frontage of the principal structure on the premises.
(4) Signs shall not project over public rights-of-way.
(5) Signs may be illuminated internally or with direct, white light, cast downward on the sign.
(6) No detached sign shall exceed 16 feet in height) except as follows:
(a) Signs permitted under division (I)(9) below shall be subject to the height standards set forth there; and
(b) Any other detached sign otherwise conforming with this section and located on the premises of a business where at least one of the driveways or other roadway entrances to the establishment is within 750 feet of an entrance or exit ramp to an interstate highway (measured along the edge of the highway right-of-way, without regard to the width of the road), may be erected to a height that is not greater than the lower of:
1. Fifteen feet above the elevation of the centerline of the nearest lane pair on the interstate; or
2. Fifty feet in height from the ground.
(7) There shall be no more than one detached sign per premises, except that those signs allowed under this section without a permit shall not be counted in determining the number of detached signs. For purposes of this division, a PREMISES shall be considered the entire lot or parcel under one schedule of the County Tax Assessor as of September 1, 2007, or any lot created after that date through a lawful subdivision or a lawful exemption from the subdivision regulations of the county.
(8) Up to 25% of the copy area of any permitted sign larger than 50-square feet may consist of changeable copy area. Copy in this area may be changed manually or electronically, provided that any electronically changeable copy sign shall be programmed so that it does not change more than one time every minute and so that each change of message or image is a complete change with no rolling, scrolling or other moving effects.
(9) Billboards shall be allowed, subject to the following standards and conditions:
(a) Billboards shall be allowed only on sites in the B-l, I-1, I-2 or I-3 Zoning Districts;
(b) A billboard may be erected only on land located within 660 feet of the right-of-way of an interstate highway;
(c) No billboard shall be erected within 1,500 feet of any existing billboard or of the site of a billboard for which a permit has been issued; to ensure compliance with this section, any billboard application shall be accompanied by a drawing showing the precise locations of and distances to each billboard located within 2,500 feet of the proposed site, which drawing shall be signed and stamped by a licensed surveyor or professional engineer; the separation distance between billboards shall be measured in a straight line along the right-of-way line of the interstate highway, without regard to the distance of the billboard from the highway or to the width of the road;
(d) A site that is eligible for a billboard under this section shall be subject to the numerical limit on detached signs set forth in division (I)(7) above; fully aware of the redundancy, it is the intent of the Board of County Commissioners that only a sign allowed under division (I)(6) above or one allowed under this division (I)(9), but not both, shall be allowed on any one premises at any one time;
(e) A billboard shall not exceed 300 square feet in size;
(f) The height of a billboard shall not exceed the lower of:
1. Fifteen feet above the elevation of the centerline of the nearest lane pair on the interstate highway; or
2. Fifty feet from the ground;
(J) Signs in Agricultural District. In the A-1 District, signs shall be permitted if they meet the following requirements.
(1) Each operating farm or forest may have a total of five detached signs at any time, of which two may be permanent signs and the rest temporary. One sign shall not exceed 75-square feet in area, nor 16 feet in height from the ground. The additional (up to four) detached signs shall not exceed six-square feet in area and six feet in height. Only one sign may be illuminated. No more than three signs on a farm or forest in an Agricultural District at any one time may contain a commercial message. The only commercial messages permitted on these signs are messages related to commercial activity lawfully conducted on the premises, including the sale of farm products, the lawful, occasional sale of personal property (such as through a garage sale or yard sale) or the sale, rental or lease of the premises.
(2) No sign shall be located closer than 100 feet to a road intersection except for directional signs which are less than six-square feet in area.
(3) No sign shall be located in a location which would interfere with highway horizontal sight distances.
(4) No sign larger than seven-square feet shall be located closer than 500 feet to any property zoned and used for a residential purpose, school, house of worship or playground.
(5) Signs in this District may bear any message that is not a commercial message, or a commercial message related to any activity lawfully conducted on the property, including, but not limited to, the sale of agricultural products, the lease or rental of the property, or the occasional sale of personal property.
(K) Owner’s consent required. No sign shall be placed on private or public property without written consent of the owner of or agent for the property.
(L) Substitution of messages. Any sign allowed under this section or a predecessor ordinance, by sign permit, by conditional use permit or by variance, may contain, in lieu of any other message or copy, any lawful noncommercial message that does not direct attention to a business operated for profit, or to a product, commodity or service for sale or lease, or to any other commercial interest or activity, so long as the sign complies with the size, height, area and other requirements of this section.
(Ord. O-C-97-10, passed 12-22-1997; Ord. O-C-07-7, passed 10-9-2007)