This chapter establishes regulations for signs on private property within the city for the purposes of safeguarding and protecting public health, welfare, and safety through appropriate prohibitions and requirements. The city recognizes that signs and other graphics are an essential element of a community's visual appearance and provide a means to identify and promote businesses, provide useful information to the public, and should not become visual distractions along public roadways. Consequently, the purpose of this chapter is to provide sign regulations for signs on private property that are consistent with the goals and objectives of the city's general plan and the community's visual and aesthetic goals. In addition, these regulations are intended to:
A. Promote an economically stable and visually attractive community;
B. Promote signs and graphics that are attractive, pleasing, and harmonized with the physical character of the environment and surrounding properties, while serving the identifying needs of the business community;
C. Prevent an inadvertent favoring of commercial speech over noncommercial speech, or favoring of any particular noncommercial message over any other noncommercial message.
D. Promote traffic safety and the smooth and efficient flow of pedestrians and vehicles to their destinations; and
E. Direct persons to various activities and enterprises, in order to provide for maximum public convenience. (Ord. 2010-02 § 1 (part), 2010)