For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ABANDONED SIGN. Any sign and/or its supporting sign structure which remains without a message or whose display surface remains blank for a continuous period of one year or more, or any sign which pertains to a time, event or purpose which no longer applies, shall be deemed to have been abandoned. Signs applicable to a business temporarily suspended because of a change in ownership or management of such business shall not be deemed abandoned unless the property remains vacant for a period of one year or more. Any sign remaining after demolition of a principal structure shall be deemed to be abandoned. Signs which are present because of being legally established nonconforming signs or signs which have required a conditional use permit or a variance shall also be subject to the definition of abandoned sign.
ADDRESS SIGN. A sign communicating street addresses only, whether in script or numerical form.
ADVERTISING SIGN. A billboard, poster panel, painted bulletin board, or other communicative device which is used to advertise products, goods, and/or services which are not exclusively related to the premises on which the sign is located.
AREA IDENTIFICATION SIGN.
(1) A monument sign identifying any of the following:
(a) An office or business structure or development containing three or more independent operations;
(b) A single business containing three or more separate structures;
(c) A shopping center; and/or
(d) Any integrated combination of the above.
(2) Area identification signs shall only identify an area, complex, or development and shall not, unless approved by the City Council, contain the name of individual owners or tenants. Further, such signs may not contain advertising.
AWNING. A roof-like cover, often of fabric, plastic, metal or glass designed and intended for protection from the weather or as a decorative embellishment, and which projects from a wall or roof of a structure primarily over a window, walk or the like. Any part of an awning which also projects over a door shall be counted as an awning.
AWNING SIGN. A building sign or graphic printed on or in some fashion attached directly to the awning material.
BALLOON SIGN. A sign consisting of a bag made of lightweight material supported by helium, hot, or pressurized air which is greater than 24 inches in diameter.
BANNERS. Attention-getting devices used in exterior display which resemble flags and are of a paper, cloth, or plastic-like consistency.
BUILDING. Any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy.
BUILDING SIGN. Any sign attached to or supported by any building.
BUSINESS SIGN. Any sign which identifies a business, either retail or wholesale, or any sign which identifies a profession or is used in the identification or promotion of any principal, commodity, or service, including entertainment, offered or sold upon the premises where such sign is located.
CABINET SIGN. Any wall sign that is not of channel or individually mounted letter construction.
CAMPAIGN SIGN. A temporary sign promoting the candidacy of a person running for a governmental office, or promoting an issue, to be voted on at a governmental election.
CANOPY. A roof-like cover, often of fabric, plastic, metal, or glass on a support, which provides shelter over a doorway, or in the case of motor fuel stations, provides shelter over the fuel tanks.
CANOPY SIGN. Any sign that is part of or attached to a canopy, made of fabric, plastic, or a structural protective cover over a door or entrance. A canopy sign is not a marquee and is different from service area canopy signs.
CHANGEABLE COPY SIGN. A sign or portion thereof with characters, letters, or illustrations that can be changed or rearranged without altering the face or the surface of the sign. Changeable copy signs do not include non-electronic signs upon which characters, letters or illustrations change or rearrange only once in a 24-hour period.
COMMERCIAL SPEECH. Speech advertising a business, profession, commodity, service or entertainment.
CONSTRUCTION SIGN. A non-illuminated sign placed at a construction site identifying the project or the name of the architect, engineer, contractor, or financier.
CROP DEMONSTRATION SIGN. A sign identifying agricultural products utilized upon the subject property.
DIRECTIONAL SIGN. A sign limited to directional messages, primarily to direct traffic to the location of a place, area or activity.
DISTRICT. A zoning district as defined by the City Zoning Ordinance.
DYNAMIC DISPLAY. Any characteristics of a sign that appears to have movement or that appears to change, caused by any method other than physically removing and replacing the sign or its components, whether the apparent movement or change is in the display, the sign structure itself, or any other component of the sign. This includes a display that incorporates a technology or method allowing the sign face to change the image without having to physically or mechanically replace the sign face or its components. This also includes any rotating, revolving, moving, flashing, blinking, or animated display and any display that incorporates LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lights manipulated through digital input, digital ink, or any other method or technology that allows the sign face to present a series of images or displays.
ELECTRONIC MESSAGE SIGN. A sign having electronically changing text.
ELECTRONIC NUMBER SIGN. A sign having electronically changing numbers.
ELEVATION. The view of the front, side, or rear of a given structure(s).
ELEVATION AREA. The area of all walls that face any lot line.
ERECT. Activity of constructing, building, raising, assembling, placing, affixing, attaching, creating, painting, drawing or any other way of bringing into being or establishing.
FARM IDENTIFICATION SIGN. A sign which identifies or otherwise describes the name, ownership and/or type of agricultural operation of the lot or parcel of land upon which it is situated.
FLAG. Any fabric or similar lightweight material attached at one end of the material to a staff or pole, so as to allow movement of the material by atmospheric changes and which contains distinctive colors, patterns, symbols, emblems, insignia, or other symbolic devices.
FLASHING SIGN. An illuminated sign upon which the artificial light is not kept constant in terms of intensity or color at all times when the sign is illuminated.
FREESTANDING SIGN. Any stationary or portable self-supported sign not affixed to any other structure.
FRONTAGE. The line of contact of a property with the public right-of-way.
GOVERNMENTAL SIGN. A sign which is erected by a governmental unit.
GRADE. Grade shall be construed to be the final ground elevation after construction. Earth mounding criteria for landscaping and screening is not part of the final grade for sign height computation.
HEIGHT OF SIGN. The height of the sign shall be computed as the vertical distance measured from the base of the sign at grade to the top of the highest attached component of the sign.
IDENTIFICATION SIGN. A sign which identifies the name, activity, owner, manager, resident, or address of the premises where the sign is located and which contains no other material.
ILLUMINATED SIGN. Any sign which is lighted by an artificial light source either directed upon it or illuminated from an interior source.
INTERIOR SIGN. A sign which is located within the interior of any building, or within an enclosed lobby or court of any building, and a sign for and located within the inner or outer body, court or entrance of any theater.
LOT. A portion of a subdivision or other parcel of land intended for building development or for transfer of ownership.
BASE LOT. A lot meeting all the specifications within its zoning district prior to being divided into a two-family or quadraminium subdivision.
CORNER LOT. A lot situated at the intersection of two streets, the interior angle of such intersection not exceeding 135 degrees.
DOUBLE FRONTAGE LOT. An interior lot having frontage on two streets.
MONUMENT SIGN. A sign not supported by exposed posts or poles which is designed to architecturally match the principal structure and be located directly at grade where the base width dimension is 75% or more of the greatest width of the sign.
MOTION SIGN. Any sign which revolves, rotates, has any moving parts, or gives the illusion of motion.
MULTIPLE TENANT BUILDING. Any building which has four or more tenants with each tenant having a separate ground level exterior public entrance or access to an exterior public entrance via a common hallway or door that does not traverse through another leasehold space.
NON-COMMERCIAL MESSAGE SIGN. Dissemination of messages not classified as commercial speech, which include, but are not limited to, messages concerning political, religious, social, ideological, public service and informational topics.
NONCONFORMING SIGNS.
(1) LEGAL. A sign which lawfully existed at the time of the passage of this chapter but which does not conform to the regulations of this chapter.
(2) ILLEGAL. A sign which was constructed after the passage of this chapter and does not conform to the regulations of this chapter.
OFF-PREMISE SIGN. A commercial speech sign which directs the attention of the public to a business, activity conducted, or product sold or offered at a location not on the same lot where such sign is located. For purposes of this subchapter, easements and other appurtenances shall be considered to be outside such lot and any sign located or proposed to be located in an easement or other appurtenance shall be considered an off-premise sign.
ON-PREMISE MESSAGES. Identify or advertise an establishment, person, activity, goods, products or services located on the premises where the sign is installed.
PARAPET. That part of any wall or wall-like structure entirely above the roof line.
PORTABLE SIGN. A sign so designed as to be movable from one location to another and which is not permanently attached to the ground, sales display device, or structure. A temporary sign.
PROJECTING SIGN. Any wall sign which is affixed to a building or wall in such a manner that its leading edge extends a minimum of one foot beyond the surface of the building and cannot extend more than four feet beyond such building.
PYLON SIGN. Any freestanding sign which has its supportive structure(s) anchored in the ground and which has a sign face elevated above ground level by a pole(s) or beam(s) and with more than 25% of the area below the sign face open.
REAL ESTATE SIGN. A non-illuminated sign placed upon a property advertising that particular property for sale or for rent.
REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT SIGN. A non-illuminated sign advertising a group of properties for-sale or for rent and located on one of said properties for-sale or for rent.
ROOF. The exterior surface and the supporting structure on the top of a building or structure. The structural make-up of which conforms to the roof structures, roof construction and roof covering sections of the Uniform Building Code.
ROOF LINE. The upper-most edge of the roof or in the case of an extended facade or parapet, the upper-most height of said facade.
ROOF SIGN, INTEGRAL. Any building sign erected or construed as an integral or essentially integral part of a normal roof structure of any design, so that no part of the sign extends vertically above the highest portion of the roof and so that no part of the sign is separated from the rest of the roof by a space of more than six inches.
ROOF SIGN. A sign which is located above the eave or coping line.
ROTATING SIGN. A sign which revolves or rotates by mechanical means.
RUMMAGE SALE. An infrequent temporary display and sale, by an occupant on his or her premises, of personal property, including general household rummage, used clothing, and appliances.
SANDWICH BOARD SIGN. A self-supported and moveable, typically A-shaped, temporary sign with two visible sides that is placed adjacent to a business, typically on a sidewalk and contains commercial speech.
SHOPPING CENTER. A group of contiguous business properties under common ownership.
SIGN. Any letter, word, symbol, poster, picture, statuary, reading matter or representation in the nature of advertisement, announcement, message or visual communication, whether painted, posted, printed, affixed or constructed, including all associated brackets, braces, supports, wires and structures, which is displayed for informational or communicative purposes.
SIGN AREA. The area of the internally lighted signs shall be the total area of the lighted surface. All other signs shall be measured at the perimeter of the surface on which the sign is inscribed. For signs consisting of letters, figures, or symbols applied directly onto a building or structure, the sign area shall be that area enclosed within the smallest regular geometric figure needed to completely encompass all letters, figures or symbols of the sign.
SIGN FACE. The surface of the sign upon, against, or through which the message of the sign is exhibited.
SPECIAL EVENT SIGN. A temporary sign that is used to advertise or promote on or off premise special events organized or operated by civic, philanthropic, educational, or religious organizations, such as the Daze & Knights Festival. Activities that are part of a regular series are not deemed special events, unless they are an atypical activity outside the ordinary.
TEMPORARY ADVERTISING SIGN. Any banner, special event sign, or window sign.
TEMPORARY SIGN. A sign designed to be displayed for a limited period of time that is not permanently fixed to the land or a structure.
VARIANCE. The waiving by city action of the literal provisions of this subchapter in instances where their strict enforcement would cause undue hardship because of physical circumstances unique to the individual property under consideration as found in § 155.442.
WALL SIGN. A sign affixed to the exterior wall of a building which does not project more than one foot from the surface to which it is attached, nor extend beyond the top of the parapet wall.
WINDOW SIGN. A sign affixed to or inside of a window in view of the general public.
ZONING ADMINISTRATOR. The Zoning Administrator or other person charged with administration and enforcement of this subchapter as appointed by the City Council.
(Ord. 0701, passed 1-9-07; Am. Ord. 0703, passed 7-10-07; Am. Ord. 0807, passed 10-14-08; Am. Ord. 1003, passed 6-8-10; Am. Ord. 1401, passed 1-28-14; Am. Ord. 1604, passed 5-10-16; Am. Ord. 1704, passed 10-24-17)