(A) Purpose. The purposes of the district are to allow businesses located adjacent to the I-76 limited access easement or ROW an opportunity to advertise to potential customers traveling on the limited access highway while maintaining a safe vehicular environment by minimizing sign clutter and other distractions that may be contributing factors to traffic congestion and accidents.
(B) District map/location. The Highway Sign Overlay District shall include all commercially zoned properties within the city located in whole or in part within 200 feet of the outside edges of the I-76 Limited Access Easement or right-of-way.
(C) Minimum lot requirements. In order to utilize the provisions of this section, all commercially zoned properties within the Sign Overlay District shall demonstrate compliance with the following provisions:
(1) Minimum lot area. All lots shall contain a minimum of 65,340 sq. ft. (1.5 acres) of land area.
(2) Minimum frontage on a limited access easement or right-of-way. All lots shall have a minimum of 200 linear feet of continuous frontage along the Limited Access Highway easement or ROW.
(D) Supplemental standards. In addition to the sign allocation provisions of the underlying zoning districts, properties within the Highway Sign Overlay District, which comply with the minimum lot requirements noted in § 154.478(C) shall be permitted to display one additional freestanding sign, subject to the following provisions:
(1) Location and minimum setbacks. Such sign shall be located so as to be visible from the limited access highway; shall maintain a minimum setback of five feet from all property lines; and shall not be located closer than 200 feet to another on- or off-premise freestanding sign. No sign shall be permitted within the highway easement itself.
(2) Separation from residential uses. No such sign shall be erected within 500 feet of any residential use or residential use district as measured perpendicularly to the sign face.
(3) Maximum display area. The sign display area shall not exceed two square feet of signage for each linear foot of building frontage, up to a maximum display area of 200 sq. ft. The total sign display area for the entire site shall still subject to the maximums set forth in the tables in § 154.486.
(4) Maximum sign height. Sign height shall be limited to 70 feet as measured from the average elevation of the highway road surface of the lot on which the sign will be located.
(5) Signs at multi-tenant developments. Signs which serve two or more uses on the same parcel, or within the same commercial development when on a separate parcel, shall be permitted a 10% sign display area bonus for each use after the first, which are served by the sign, up to a maximum total bonus of 75 sq. ft.
(6) Design review and zoning certificate required. All signs erected under this section shall be subject to design review and require a zoning certificate as per § 154.482.
(7) All signs erected under these provisions shall demonstrate compliance with all other applicable provisions of the city's sign regulations as well as applicable commercial building codes.
(Ord. 08-061, passed 10-21-08)