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All signs and other illumination within the City shall be subject to the following restrictions upon illumination:
A. See also § 600-912.
B. Flashing, blinking, electronically moving, or animated lighting of signs shall be prohibited.
An electronic sign shall not change its message more than once every six seconds, except a changeable message sign of more than 100 square feet shall not change more than once every 10 seconds. This subsection shall not apply to theaters, arenas or visual or performing arts centers in the C-C District. If a sign has a sign area of more than 20 square feet, it shall not have a scrolling message.
C. No sign will be permitted which is not effectively shielded so as to prevent beams or rays of light from being directed at any portion of any public street or which is of such intensity or brilliance as to cause glare or to impair the vision of the driver of any vehicle, or which interferes with any driver's operation of a motor vehicle.
D. No sign shall be so illuminated that it interferes with the effectiveness of or obscures an official traffic sign, device or signal.
E. Signs which contain, include or are illuminated by any flashing, intermittent or moving light(s) are prohibited, except those giving public service information such as time, date, temperature, weather or similar public service information.
F. Where a LED or an internally illuminated sign is allowed in a residential district (such as for a place of worship), such illuminated sign area shall not exceed 20 square feet on each of two sides.
G. The aggregate output of the light sources from any sign shall not exceed 500 initial lumens per square foot of sign face per side. LED sign surfaces or other internally illuminated sign faces shall not be allowed if they exceed 100 square feet per side and are located within 400 feet of a residential district. Off-premises signs with LED or other internally illuminated sign faces that are within 300 feet from a residential district and that face onto that residential district shall not be internally illuminated between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
A. A sign shall not project horizontally more than 18 inches from a building, except for allowed projecting, awning and marquee signs.
B. Only an official sign, projecting sign or marquee sign shall be allowed to intrude into a street right-of-way. Any allowed projecting sign or marquee sign shall not project within less than two feet of any curb or driveway line. This regulation shall take precedence over any other regulation in this Part governing sign projection.
No sign shall be constructed, erected or maintained:
A. Which bears or contains statements, words or pictures of an obscene, indecent or immoral character, such as will offend public morals or decency.
B. Which purports to be, or is an imitation of, or resembles an official traffic sign or signal, which bears the words "STOP," "GO," "SLOW," "CAUTION," "DANGER," "WARNING" or similar words.
C. Which, by reason of its size, location, movement, content, coloring or manner of illumination, may be confused with or construed as a traffic control device, or which hides from view any traffic or street sign or signal.
D. Which advertises or publicizes an activity, business, product or service not conducted on the premises upon which such signs are maintained, except as specified otherwise in this chapter.
E. Which rotates or has a rotating or moving part or parts that revolve.
F. Which consists of ribbons, streamers, strings of light bulbs, spinners or elements creating sound or smell which are signs defined by this Part, except seasonal decorations as per § 600-1712F.
G. Which shall be located so as to obstruct two-thirds of the view of a sign on adjoining property when viewed from a distance of 200 feet at a point four feet above the roadway grade of the traffic lane closest to the street property line.
A. General. See the definition of "off-premises signs" in § 600-2205.
(1) No part of any billboard or other off-premises sign shall be located more than 100 feet from the nearest street line of any traffic route and no billboard or other off-premises sign shall be oriented primarily toward any street other than a traffic route as defined herein.
B. Regulations. Billboards and other off-premises signs, including those painted on building walls, shall conform to the following regulations, in addition to other applicable requirements:
(1) Exemptions. A sign that includes occasional public service messages shall not by itself be considered an off-premises sign. Signs that are authorized by PennDOT or the City of Reading to direct persons to visitor attractions shall not be considered off- premises signs.
(2) Location.
(a) Billboards and other off-premises signs shall be permitted only along "traffic routes," as defined in § 600-2205 in the MU, H-M and C-H Zoning Districts. An off-premises sign in the C-H, MU and H-M Districts shall not exceed 300 square feet on each of a maximum of two sides.
(b) Billboards and other off-premises signs shall be located to conform with all yard and special setback requirements of this chapter.
(c) Any such sign located adjacent to a building, on another lot, containing windows facing such billboard or other off-premises sign shall be located a minimum of 50 feet from such windows. Any billboard or off-premises sign that is illuminated or more than 50 square feet in sign area shall be located a minimum of: 300 feet from an existing dwelling in a residential district; and 500 feet from any City-recognized Historic Preservation District or any public park, primary or secondary school or hospital in any direction.
(d) No billboard structure shall be located on or over the roofs of buildings situated on the same lot. No billboard structure shall be located on or adjacent to another billboard structure at the same site, with the exception of two billboard sign areas that are approximately back-to-back.
(3) (Reserved)
(4) Height. The maximum height of any off-premises free standing sign shall be 35 feet above grade. When the topography is such that the point at which a billboard must be erected is lower in grade than the fronting street or highway, the elevation of the street or highway shall be considered grade.
(5) No two billboard sign structures shall be spaced less than 1,200 feet apart along any City street. The distance between sign structures shall be measured along the nearest edge of the pavement between points directly opposite the signs along the same side of traveled way. The spacing requirement applies to signs located on both sides of the street. The distance between billboard signs shall be measured radially from the base of the sign structure nearest to the base of any other billboard sign structure along the same street, regardless of whether the relevant sign structures are on the same or opposite sides of the street.
(6) Lighting. See § 600-1714.
(7) Billboards and other off-premises signs may be single-faced, double-faced, or V- shaped structures. Double-faced and/or V-shaped billboard structures shall not exceed 300 square feet per display area regardless of street frontage or length of building wall.
C. Landscaping requirements.
(1) Single-faced billboards with the rear viewable from a public right-of-way or other public property shall have three equally spaced eight-foot tall evergreen trees planted in the rear of the billboard and the reverse side of the sign shall be of one color.
(2) All landscaping surrounding signage shall be maintained in a neat, attractive and clean condition.
D. Other off-premises sign provisions. In addition to the provisions of Subsection B hereof, the following provisions shall apply to other off-premises signs:
(1) A business may have one directional off-premises sign within one mile distance from its business location, provided such sign contains not over 32 square feet of surface area which shall be included within the surface area permitted by Subsection B hereof, and is located in either the CH, M-C or H-M Zones.
(2) Any off-premises sign exceeding 32 square feet in surface area shall be deemed a billboard.
The following signs and operations shall not require a sign permit or fee, but shall conform to all other applicable provisions of this chapter:
A. Advertising copy or message on a painted or printed sign or a billboard sign or on a theater or marquee and similar signs specifically designed for the use of replaceable copy.
B. Painting, repainting, cleaning and normal maintenance and repair of a sign or sign structure, including electrical equipment, unless a structural change is made, except that signs painted on walls which are made nonconforming by this Part shall not be repainted unless such repainting is done to eliminate that sign. No new sign shall be painted in its place.
D. See permit requirements in § 600-1702D.
All signs, together with all of their supports, braces, guys, anchors and electrical equipment, shall be kept fully operable, in good repair and maintained in safe condition and in a neat, clean and attractive condition. The display surfaces of all signs shall be kept neatly painted or posted.
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