1105.01 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES.

        (a)   General Purpose. The purpose of the City of Youngstown Sign Regulations is to regulate non-commercial, commercial and event signage with a comprehensive system of reasonable, effective, consistent and nondiscriminatory sign standards and requirements. These Sign Regulations will identify guidelines that detail specifics for signs identifying non-commercial and commercial establishments, events and statements, while maintaining public safety and overall community welfare. Commercial signs shall be designed and constructed in accordance with the current edition of the Ohio Building Code. Additional guidelines for signs located in the geographic area of the city designated as the Design Review District are provided for in Chapters 1101 and 1102 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Youngstown.

   (b)   Objectives. With these purposes in mind, City Council hereby declares that the enactment of these comprehensive Sign Regulations is necessary to achieve the above stated purposes and to accomplish the following objectives:

      (1)   Accommodate the advertising needs of businesses and improve the image of business areas by creating an aesthetically attractive environment that promotes business and is inviting to the public.

      (2)   Enhance the aesthetic quality of the City by encouraging signage that is compatible and appropriate with surrounding buildings, landscaping and other site features.

      (3)   Establish sign standards that will enable the public to locate goods, services, and facilities in Youngstown easily.

      (4)   Recognize that signs constitute a uniquely public form of communication that has effects on the public that more selective media do not.

      (5)   Reduce the confusion and visual clutter caused by proliferation, improper placement, illumination, animation, and excessive height and area of all signs that also compete for the attention of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

      (6)   Protect the public from the dangers of unsafe signs and require signs to be located, constructed, installed and maintained in a safe and satisfactory manner.

      (7)   Establish sign size in relation to the scale of the lot and building frontage along which the sign is to be placed.

      (8)   The intent of these regulations is not to limit the message content of signs but to regulate the time, place, and manner of their display; to balance the free speech of individuals with the collective rights of the community.

         (Ord. 09-165. Passed 6-24-09.)