No person, business or organization shall erect, build, alter, relocate, repair, or maintain any permanent or temporary sign, or other sign within the City, without first obtaining a sign permit from the Enforcement Officer as outlined in these regulations.
(a) The following signs are exempt from compliance with this provision requiring a permit, provided such sign is reviewed by the Enforcement Officer and are determined to be in full compliance with the criteria set forth by all applicable regulations of this Chapter:
(1) Nameplates.
(2) Real estate signs.
(3) Signs conforming to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices and bearing no commercial message.
(4) Signs installed by employees or officials of a state or federal agency in the course of their governmental duties and bearing no commercial message.
(5) Signs installed by employees of the City or Montgomery County in the course of their governmental duties and bearing no commercial message.
(6) Signs required by a state or federal statute or state or federal court.
(7) Signs installed by public utilities in their rights-of-way or on their facilities and bearing no commercial message other than such message as is necessary to identify the use.
(8) Signs installed by a transit company with a franchise or other right to operate in the City and bearing no commercial message, where such signs are installed along its routes and relate to schedules or other information about the transit route.
(9) Signs in parks that relate to the use of one or more facilities (including temporary uses by particular entities or individuals), provided that such signs shall not be legible from any public right-of-way outside the park and such signs shall bear no commercial message except one that relates to a lawful commercial activity or lawful temporary use of a facility within the park.
(10) Signs located inside stadia, arenas, ball fields or other such facilities. Where a facility is located adjacent to another such facility, such as in an athletic complex, such signs shall be located completely within the separate stadium, arena, ball field, or other such facility. Signs located inside an outdoor facility shall be deemed not to be legible from the right-of-way even if they may be legible from some locations outside the facility.
(11) Public Issue signs.
(12) Special Event Signs.
(b) Procedure for Obtaining a Sign Permit. Application for a sign permit shall be made through the Enforcement Officer, on a standard form which shall contain the following information:
(1) The name, address and telephone number of the applicant.
(2) Signed authorization of the owner of the property on which the sign is to be located, if the applicant is not the owner.
(3) The location of the sign, or the building or structure on which the sign is to be located, including its relation to adjacent property, rights-of-way and sidewalks.
(4) A scale drawing of the sign in ink on reproducible base showing the size, type, height, construction details, type of materials to be used, and information to be included on the sign.
(5) The name and address of the person, firm, association or corporation responsible for the construction, erection and maintenance of the sign.
(6) Written authorization permitting the Enforcement Officer, or his duly authorized representative, to inspect the property, building or structure upon which the sign is to be located, supported by or attached to.
(7) A sign permit fee as set forth in subsection (e) hereof.
(c) Sign Permit:
(1) It shall be the responsibility of the Enforcement Officer to fully examine the application, and upon approval, issue the sign permit to the applicant. The Enforcement Officer shall determine whether a submitted application is in full compliance with the requirements of this Chapter within twenty-one (21) days of its submission.
(2) In any application where a matter of interpretation arises, the more specific definition or higher standard shall prevail.
(3) If the Enforcement Officer determines that the application is in full compliance, he/she shall issue a permit for the erection, alteration, or relocation of the sign within twenty-eight (28) days of receipt of such application.
(4) The sign permit shall expire one hundred twenty (120) days after the day it is issued if construction has not commenced.
(d) Variance: Requests for a variance from any requirement of this Chapter shall be immediately forwarded to, reviewed by, and approved or disapproved by, the Board of Zoning Appeals in accordance with the procedures set forth in Section 1161.05 of the Zoning Code. Variances related to this Chapter shall be limited to setback, area, and height requirements only, unless the Board finds that requiring strict compliance with the provisions of this Chapter may impose an undue hardship and that the granting of the variance from the provisions of this Chapter will not depreciate or damage neighboring property, will not create a safety hazard and will not be contrary to the purposes of this Chapter.
(e) Sign Permit Fee Schedule:
(1) A non-refundable fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) shall accompany each application for a sign permit.
(2) A non-refundable fee of seventy-five dollars ($75.00) shall accompany each request for a variance to these regulations.
(f) Appeal:
(1) If a permit application is denied or approved with conditions, the City shall prepare a written decision within twenty-eight (28) days following receipt of the application, stating the reason or reasons for the action and describing the applicant's appeal rights under this Section and the applicant's rights to seek a variance under paragraph (d) of this Section and serve it upon the applicant by certified mail.
(2) If the Enforcement Officer prepares a Notice of Violation for any violation occurring under this Chapter, the Enforcement Officer shall include within such Notice a description of the recipient's appeal rights under this Section.
(3) An applicant for a sign permit, or a recipient of a Notice of Violation, who wishes to appeal from the denial or conditional approval of a permit application or from a Notice of Violation, shall file a notice of the appeal with the Board of Zoning Appeals within ten (10) days following receipt of the denial, conditional approval or the Notice of Violation.
(4) When the Board of Zoning Appeals receives a notice of appeal from the denial or conditional approval of a permit application or from a Notice of Violation, the Board shall hold a public hearing within thirty (30) days from receipt of the notice of appeal and shall provide notice of said hearing pursuant to Section 1161.05 of the Zoning Code.
(5) The Board of Zoning Appeals shall issue a written decision to affirm, reverse or modify the denial or conditional approval of a permit application or a Notice of Violation within ten (10) days following the public hearing and serve it upon the appellant by certified mail.
(6) If the appellant elects to file an appeal from the Board's decision in Common Pleas Court, the applicant must follow the procedure set forth in Chapters 2505 and 2506 of the Ohio Revised Code and Rules 3 and 4 of the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure.
(g) Removal of Signs Outside of the Right-of Way by the Enforcement Officer:
(1) The Enforcement Officer shall cause to be removed any temporary or permanent sign that constitutes a public nuisance in that it endangers the public safety, such as a sign which has been abandoned, is illegal, is dangerous, is deteriorated, is dilapidated, or is materially, electrically, or structurally defective. The Enforcement Officer shall also cause to be removed any sign except a valid non-conforming sign for which no permit has been issued or a sign which is not in compliance with the permit issued. Before removing any such sign, however, the Enforcement Officer shall first prepare a notice which describes the sign and specifies the violation involved. This notice shall require that a sign shall be removed or the violation corrected within the next fourteen (14) days. If this notice is not complied with, the sign shall be removed immediately following the applicable time frames by the Enforcement Officer in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(2) All notices issued by the Enforcement Officer may be served by certified mail, by placing in a prominent place on the property or delivery to the property owner, current occupant, to a person temporarily or permanently in charge of the establishment or the sign owner in case of temporary signs. Any time periods provided in this section shall be deemed to commence on the date of the service of the notice.
(3) The property owner and current occupant shall be jointly and severally obligated to reimburse the city immediately for all third party and administrative expenses, including a one hundred dollar ($100.00) administrative fee for City inspection and administrative costs incurred in removing any sign including but not limited to costs to the City for the time of city employees. The City shall provide notice of said expenses and in the event the same is not paid within thirty (30) days after the mailing of the notice, the amount owed shall be a certified as an assessment against the property of the sign owner, and lien upon that property, together with an additional ten (10) percent penalty for collection as prescribed for unpaid real estate taxes. If the violations are corrected and removal obligations paid, the property owner, the occupant or the sign owner may reclaim the sign from the City.
(h) Removal of Unlawful Sign in the Public Rights-of-way:
(1) Signs, other than those signs identified in subsections (a)(3), (4), (5), (6), (7) and (8) of this Section, are specifically prohibited in public rights-of-way. The City shall immediately remove or cause to be removed any sign prohibited from the public rights-of-way. Such removal authority must be exercised in a non-discriminatory manner. Any sign so removed shall be held for thirty (30) days, after which it shall be discarded if not claimed by the owner. Such sign may be claimed by the owner within this thirty (30) day period upon payment of a one hundred dollar ($100.00) administrative fee for city inspection and administrative costs.
(2) If the Enforcement Officer removes any sign pursuant to subsection (h)(1) hereof, the Enforcement Officer shall prepare a Notice of Violation which describes the sign and specifies the violation involved. Said Notice of Violation shall inform the owner of the sign-retrieval provisions set forth in subsection (h)(1) hereof and of the owner's appeal rights as set forth in subsection (f) hereof.
(i) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the City from taking such other lawful action as is necessary to prevent or remedy any violation.
(Ord. 1559. Passed 4-22-13.)