It is the purpose and intent of this chapter to establish reasonable regulations which preserve the health, safety, and general welfare of the public while protecting each person's constitutional right to freedom of speech, as indicated by the following objectives:
(a) To provide reasonable and appropriate methods for locating goods, services, and facilities in all zoning districts by relating the size, type, and design of signs to the size, type, and design of the uses and districts;
(b) To control the design of signs so that their appearance shall be aesthetically harmonious with an overall urban design for the area;
(c) To promote and maintain attractive, high-value residential, commercial, and industrial districts;
(d) To limit the visual dominance of signs without unconstitutionally restricting the information conveyed;
(e) To prohibit signs which pose an unreasonable risk to public safety;
(f) To promote traffic safety by preventing obstructions within public rights-of-way, minimizing visual distractions to motorists, ensuring that sign size and height are appropriate to their location, and preventing conflicts with public safety signs and police and fire protection;
(g) To promote well-designed and placed signs that are consistent with the intent, purposes, standards, and criteria of these sign regulations. More specifically, encouraging signs that are designed with the following principles:
(1) Lettering should be large enough to be easily read but not overly large or out of scale with the building or site;
(2) The number of items, letters, symbols, and shapes should be consistent with the amount of information that can be comprehended by the viewer; reflect simplicity; avoid visual clutter; and improve legibility;
(3) The shape of a sign should be simple and not create visual clutter, and the sign should be consolidated into a minimum number of elements;
(4) A ratio between the message and the background should permit easy recognition of the message;
(5) The sign should complement the building and adjacent buildings by being designed and placed to enhance the architecture;
(6) Signs should have an appropriate contrast and be designed with a limited number of colors and harmonious use of such colors;
(7) Signs, if seen in series, should have a continuity of design with the style of sign generally consistent throughout the building or block;
(8) Visible frames or supports for projecting signs should be artistic in nature; and
(9) A sign should be constructed with a minimum of different types of material so as to provide a consistent overall appearance.
(h) To promote the public right to receive religious, political, economic, social, philosophical, and other First Amendment-protected messages.
The Village does not intend to infringe on the rights of free speech as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Chapter I, §11 of the Ohio Constitution. All regulations in this chapter are to be construed, whenever possible, in favor of vigorous political debate and accommodation of the rights of persons to speak freely.
(Ord. 2879. Passed 10-23-23.)