A common signage plan can improve the design aesthetics of shopping centers and neighboring properties. If the following provisions are met, a twenty five percent (25%) increase in total sign area for freestanding signs shall be allowed as an incentive to incorporate a common signage plan:
A. Increase In Sign Area: If the owner of two (2) or more contiguous lots or the owner of a single lot with more than one main building submit to the zoning administrator or a designated representative a common signage plan that conforms to the provisions contained herein, a twenty five percent (25%) increase in the maximum total freestanding sign area shall be allowed for the combined lots or buildings, to be allocated as the owner elects; provided, that the maximum sign area for any one freestanding sign be limited to five hundred (500) square feet. Additional freestanding sign area may be allowed for any one sign with conditional use permit approval in order to allow for adequate visibility for the traveling public.
B. Site Plan: The common signage plan shall include an accurate site plan of the lots that will be included in the plan (shopping centers or neighboring properties) showing the locations of buildings, parking lots, driveways and landscaped areas; the computation of the maximum total freestanding sign area allowed, the maximum number of freestanding signs allowed, and the maximum height allowed for the freestanding signs; and the locations of all proposed freestanding signs.
C. Consistency Standards: The common signage plan shall specify standards for consistency among all signs on the lots affected by the plan with regard to color scheme, lettering or graphic style, lighting, building sign locations, sign material and sign proportions.
D. Number: The number of freestanding signs shall be limited to a total of one for each street on which the lots included in the plan have frontage, and shall provide for shared or common usage of such signs. For lots zoned C-2 or C-3 within one thousand five hundred feet (1,500') of a freeway exit, one additional freestanding sign may be allowed if it is limited to a monument type of freestanding sign. All freestanding signs shall be separated by at least one hundred feet (100').
E. Other Restrictions: The common signage plan may contain such other restrictions as the owner of the lots may reasonably determine.
F. Signatures Required: The common signage plan shall be signed by all owners or their authorized agents in such form as the zoning administrator or the designated representative shall require.
G. Amendment To Plan: A common signage plan may be amended by submitting a new plan that conforms to all requirements of the common signage plan provisions then in effect.
H. Existing Nonconforming Signs: If any new or amended common signage plan is submitted for a property on which existing signs are located, it shall include a schedule for bringing into conformance, within three (3) years, all signs not conforming to the proposed amended plan or the requirements of the common signage plan provisions in effect on the date of submission.
I. Conformance With Plan Required: After the zoning administrator or the designated representative approves a common signage plan, no sign shall be erected, placed, painted or maintained, except in conformance with such plan, and such plan may be enforced in the same way as any provision of this chapter. In case of any conflict between the provisions of such a plan and any other provision of this chapter, this chapter shall control.
J. Plans Not Meeting Objective: The objective of a common signage plan is to prevent sign clutter by reducing the number of freestanding signs and/or having a common design theme for signs. If the zoning administrator or the designated representative determines that a plan does not meet that objective, the applicant shall either revise the plan or take the proposal to the planning commission for their consideration. If the plan is taken to the planning commission, they will be the approving body for the plan, but only after they determine that it meets the stated objective.
K. Other Signs: The size and placement of entrance and exit signs, awning signs, flat signs, wall signs, marquee signs, projecting signs, and roof signs are regulated by the provisions contained elsewhere in this chapter. (Ord. 2003-05, 3-12-2003)