(A) Signs for outdoor sales of automobiles or vehicles. Permits are not required for automobile or vehicle sales subject to the following. No person shall place a sign on a motor vehicle offered for sale or trade except as follows:
(1) Properly licensed auto dealerships and properly licensed used car lots may place signs on motor vehicles located on the dealership lot. Banners and flags are prohibited.
(2) The owner of a motor vehicle may place a sign on or within the vehicle provided:
(a) The vehicle is located only on the vehicle owner's residential property; and
(b) Not more than one vehicle with a sign is displayed on the residential property.
(c) The owner of a non-residential property may place or allow to be placed a sign on or within the vehicle provide that not more than one vehicle is displayed on the nonresidential property.
(B) Time-temperature-date devices. Clocks and thermometers may be incorporated in to any sign provided such device does not exceed nine square feet.
(C) Menuboard signs for drive-in and drive-through businesses.
(1) The Planning Commission, in its sole discretion, may approve up to two menuboards upon determination that they are integral to the nature of the business.
(2) Each menuboard shall not exceed seven feet in height.
(3) One menuboard (in stacking lane) shall not exceed 16 square feet and the other (at the speaker) shall not exceed 32 square feet in area.
(4) The area of the menuboard is exclusive of the structure's framing.
(5) All menuboards shall be single-sided.
(6) No menuboard may be located within the required front yard and between 20 and 40 feet from any parcel perimeter.
(7) Only up to four square feet of the menuboard shall include digital/electronic signage.
(8) The Planning Commission may consider a modified sign area, subject to the following:
(a) Only one of the menuboards may be increased in area;
(b) The menuboard is completely screened from the roadway; and
(c) Under no circumstances shall the menuboard exceed 48 square feet in area.
(D) Off-premise directional signs. Off-premise directional signs directing vehicular traffic to a church, governmental building, public parks and recreational facilities, public hospitals, or educational institutions may be permitted in all districts subject to the following standards:
(1) No more than two signs per use shall be permitted.
(2) The size of an off-premise directional sign shall not exceed two square feet in size.
(3) The height of an off-premise directional sign shall be no less than three feet nor exceed six feet. However, variations in height may be granted to accommodate vehicular visibility to avoid obstruction to visibility.
(4) Illumination shall not be permitted.
(5) Permission of the property owner where the proposed sign is to be located or a right-of-way permit from the applicable road agency must be provided.
(E) Interior window signs.
(1) Window sign means any sign, excluding the posting of hours of operation and/or street and building address, which is painted or mounted onto a window pane, or which is hung directly inside the window with the purpose or effect of identifying any premises from the sidewalk or street.
(2) Window signs shall not exceed more than 30% percent of each window area in which they are displayed.
(3) Non-temporary signs hung inside windows shall be made of clear materials, including but not limited to transparent plastic, with lettering painted or attached to them, with all hours of operation, credit card and address signs being exempt.
(4) Window signs do not require sign permits, nor count in the calculation of total building signage permitted.
(5) Permanent and/or illuminated window signs require a permit and application.
(F) Mural signs. When a mural or graphic includes identification of an establishment or specific services, goods or products, or a representation of the types of services, goods, or products provided on the site, the mural area will count towards the total permitted wall sign area. Murals are subject to special land approval and the following standards:
(1) No mural may be placed on any building or structure that includes nonconforming signs.
(2) Only one wall, façade, or surface of a building or structure may be used for a mural.
(3) A wall, façade, or surface that is used for a mural pertaining to the business on which it is located shall be counted as one sign. A mural will count towards the total wall signage allowed for the business; however, the Planning Commission in its sole discretion may permit murals of larger size. Larger murals shall be permitted when determined to demonstrate at least one of the following:
(a) Accentuates the historic features of the building;
(b) Masks an unattractive building façade;
(c) Creates an aesthetically pleasing amenity; or
(d) Superior in aesthetics to an attached wall sign.
(4) The owner of record of the building or structure on which the proposed mural is to be placed shall, in writing, consent to the placement of said mural on the property, and shall agree to restore the wall, façade, or surface upon which the mural is placed to its prior existing condition if and at such time the mural is not maintained by the applicant. The permit application shall include a statement detailing the applicant's plans for the maintenance of the mural.
(5) In the review of the special land use, the Planning Commission shall grant approval only if the following criteria are met:
(a) The placing of the proposed mural at the location selected by the applicant would not constitute a significant traffic safety hazard.
(b) Neither the mural, nor the placement of the mural, would endanger the public health, safety, or general welfare.
(c) Neither the mural, nor the placement of the mural, would be injurious to the use and enjoyment of other property in the immediate vicinity of the proposed location.
(G) Electronic message signs include any sign that utilizes computer-generated messages or some other electronic means of changing copy. These signs include displays using incandescent lamps, LEDs, and LCDs. Electronic message signs shall only be permitted to be incorporated in a freestanding sign within the SBD (Secondary Business District) subject to the following:
(1) No such sign shall exceed a brightness level of 0.5 foot candles above ambient light at a residential lot line or one foot candle at a nonresidential lot line.
(2) No such sign shall display an illuminative brightness of such intensity or brilliance that it impairs the vision or endangers the safety and welfare of any pedestrian, cyclist, or person operating a motor vehicle.
(3) Each sign shall have a functioning ambient light monitor and automatic dimming equipment.
(4) No electronic message sign shall be located within 50 feet of the driving surface of a signalized intersection except for the sole purpose for the display of gas prices.
(5) The transition or change sequence of any image or display of an electronic message sign shall appear instantaneous as perceived by the human eye without any special effects. Such sign shall not exhibit any characteristics of a moving or flashing sign as defined herein.
(6) Electronic message signs shall not change more than once per minute.
(7) Each electronic message shall be complete in itself and shall not continue on a subsequent message.
(8) No such sign shall resemble or simulate any warning or danger signal, or any official traffic control device, sign, signal or light or have the brilliance or intensity that will interfere with any official traffic sign, device or signal.
(9) All electronic message signs must be a minimum of 100 feet from any residential structure and the changeable copy portion of the sign shall be turned off or have a static (non-changing) display between the hours of 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
(10) No electronic message sign shall be permitted to operate unless it is equipped to default to an unlit black screen when more than 50% of its light source fails or its light sources otherwise are not displaying normally.
(11) An electronic message sign shall not include any audio message or audible sound.
(H) Entranceway sign. A sign that identifies the name of a residential subdivision or development located at the main entranceways to the subdivision or development is permitted with the approval of the Planning Commission. At the Planning Commission's discretion, a decorative masonry entranceway structure shall be permitted to be located either within a boulevard of a street leading into the residential development or upon a private easement granted to a subdivision association (or similar perpetual entity) pertaining to property near the entrance to the development. The subdivision association (or similar entity) shall have the responsibility for maintaining the entranceway structure and sign. Such structure shall comply with applicable corner clearance requirements; shall, if located within a boulevard, be set back at least 12 feet measured from the extended right-of-way line of the street perpendicular to the boulevard; and shall not exceed six feet in height without approval of the Planning Commission. An agreement providing for the maintenance of the structure in recordable form satisfactory to the Village Attorney shall be furnished prior to erection of the structure.
(Ord. 107, passed 12-12-2011; Ord. 154, passed 1-11-2021; Ord. 173, passed 12-11-2023) Penalty, see § 152.999