(A) Permit required. It shall be unlawful for any person to erect, alter, change, copy or relocate within the city any sign as defined herein without first obtaining a permit from the City Manager (or his designated representative) and making payment of the required fee therefor, except that the following listed signs are not required to have permits or pay permit fees, but shall meet all other requirements of this chapter:
(1) Construction sign.
(2) For sale or rent sign not exceeding eight square feet in area.
(3) Garage sale sign.
(4) Unlighted interior directional, warning or information system when less than 12 square feet in area.
(5) Nameplate, two square feet maximum size.
(6) Open house directional sign.
(7) Political signs permitted by § 153.285.
(8) Signs for fireworks stands, pumpkin sales, Christmas tree sale lots.
(9) Subdivision directional signs.
(10) Corporate flag when its height does not exceed the roof line.
(11) Bench sign.
(12) Signs which identify the architects, engineers, contractors, or builders associated with construction work on the premises during the time period such work is being conducted.
(13) Advertising signs on the perimeter fencing of athletic fields. Such signs shall be on the interior of the fence only, shall have the advertising facing the interior of the field, shall not exceed the height of the fence and shall not be subject to any other restrictions of this chapter.
(B) Application for permit. Application for the sign permits shall be made upon forms provided by the City Manager (or his designated representative) and shall contain or have attached thereto such information as may be required by the City Manager (or his designated representative) to ensure compliance with the provisions of this code. The application shall be accompanied by a fee in an amount set from time to time by resolution of the City Council.
(C) Permit issued if application is in order. It shall be the duty of the City Manager (or his designated representative) to issue the sign permits if the application is complete, the sign complies with the provisions of this code and the fee has been paid.
(D) Signs falling within definition of one or more type signs. Whenever any sign, as defined in this chapter, falls entirely within the definitions of one or more type signs, it shall be subject to the provisions of the most restrictive category.
(E) Permit issued in error. If a sign permit is issued in error by the City Manager (or his designated representative) and the sign does not comply with all of the requirements of this chapter and all other laws and ordinances of the city, the sign permit shall be null and void, and no rights or privileges shall be conferred upon the permittee by the permit.
(F) Compliance with chapter, nuisance, abatement. The City Council hereby determines that the public peace, safety, morals, health and welfare require that all signs which shall hereafter be constructed, erected or painted in violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be and they are hereby declared public nuisances to be removed and abated in the manner provided herein.
(G) Identification. Every sign hereafter erected, altered or relocated shall have recorded thereon in a conspicuous place in order to be readily visible, the date of erection, alteration or relocation, the permit number, voltage of any electrical apparatus used in connection therewith and the name of the person, firm or company doing the work. The information shall not exceed 16 square inches in area.
(H) Maintenance of signs. The owner of any sign as defined and regulated by this chapter, including supporting structures, shall keep the same in a presentable condition at all times. All painted signs and all supporting structures of any sign shall be repainted to keep them in good condition whenever such action is requested in writing by the City Manager (or his designated representative).
(I) Unlawful signs. If the City Manager (or his designated representative) shall find that any sign which has been constructed or erected or is being maintained in violation of the provisions hereof, written notice shall be given of such conditions to the permittee or in the event no valid permit exists, to the owner thereof. If the permittee or the owner thereof, as the case may be, fails to remove or alter the sign so as to comply with the standards herein set forth, within 30 days after such notice, such signs may be removed or altered to comply when so directed by the City Manager and such cost shall be at the expense of the permittee or the owner of the property upon which the sign is located.
(1) Any sign found to be unsafe and an immediate peril to persons or property may be removed summarily and without notice when so directed by the City Manager. The cost of such removal shall be assessed against the owner of the sign removed.
(2) Any sign erected upon public property in violation of the provisions hereof may be removed or destroyed when so directed by the City Manager.
(3) The cost of removal or alteration of any sign and any expense incident thereto which by the terms of this section shall be paid by a permittee, sign owner, property owner or any other person shall become a debt owing the city. The city may initiate civil action in its own name for collection of the debt.
(`67 Code, § 10-19-3) (Am. Ord. 2020-001, passed 1-28-20)