Signs identifying office, business and service uses shall be regulated by relating the total area of all signs to the size of the building or building unit to which the signs are accessory, in accordance with the following regulations.
(a) The maximum sign face area permitted for a building or use shall include all the surfaces of a single face sign or signs, and one surface of a double-faced sign. The area of a sign shall be measured as the minimum area which can be enclosed by a square, rectangle or triangle, or any combination thereof, the sides of which make contact with the extreme points or edges of the sign or signs, excluding the supporting structure if such structure does not form a part of the message portion of the sign. Street address numbers appearing on a sign face are excluded in the calculation of permitted sign face area. However, such numbers shall not exceed twelve inches in height.
The area of a sign composed of characters or words attached directly to a building wall or mansard roof surface shall be the sum of the area of the smallest square, rectangle or triangle which encloses the characters or words of the entire sign message.
(b) The maximum sign face area of all signs shall be related to the size of the building or building unit as follows:
(1) The "frontage of a building" shall be the width of the building facade which faces the principal street or the facade containing the main entrance of a building.
(2) The "unit of a building" or "building unit" refers to a space occupying a portion of the ground floor of a building, containing its own entrance and separated from other such spaces by a party wall or walls. Building unit width shall be the width of the unit as measured from party wall centerlines along the building frontage.
(c) A building having frontage on a corner lot may be permitted additional signage along such secondary frontage or entrance which shall, however, not exceed forty percent (40%) of the area of the signs permitted along the main building facade.
Service entrances to a retail business and service use may be identified by a nameplate on the building not exceeding two square feet in single face sign area.
(Ord. 2009-155. Passed 11-16-09.)