§ 17.216.200. General provisions.

A.

1.

No sign, unless excepted by these regulations, shall be erected, constructed, posted, painted, altered, maintained or relocated until a permit has been issued by the director of the department of infrastructure and development. Before any permit is issued, an application provided by the director shall be filed with three sets of drawings and/or specifications as may be necessary to fully advise and acquaint the director with the location, construction, materials, manner of illumination and/or securing or fastening and the number of signs applied for. All signs shall be erected on or before the expiration of six months from the date of issuance of the permit; otherwise a new permit shall be required. Fees for sign permits shall be in accordance with the fee schedule adopted by ordinance, a copy of which is maintained in the office of the department of infrastructure and development. Each sign requiring a permit shall be clearly marked with the permit number and name of the person or firm placing the sign on the premises.

2.

Where the director of the department of infrastructure and development determines that an application for a sign is either prohibited under Section 17.216.030 or is not permitted to be erected in its applicable district, the director shall deny the permit.

3.

Any interested party may submit within thirty (30) days from the issuance or denial of the permit a written appeal to the board of zoning appeals, which shall promptly hear that appeal at a public meeting. A majority vote of the board shall either affirm the decision of the director or shall reverse the decision.

B.

The following signs do not require a permit as required in subsection (A) of this section; provided, they are in compliance with Section 17.216.030:

1.

Public Signs. Signs erected by or required to be erected by any government agency;

2.

Changing of copy on a bulletin beard, poster board, display easement, outdoor advertising structure or marquee;

3.

Temporary (as defined in Section 17.216.020) instructional signs not exceeding two square feet in area or three feet in height;

4.

Signs on trucks, buses or other vehicles while in use in the normal course of business;

5.

Nonilluminated signs, not exceeding six square feet in area, with letters not exceeding one foot in height, painted, stamped, perforated or stitched on the surface area of an awning, canopy, roller curtain or umbrella;

6.

Memorial tablets or signs and historic markers;

7.

Flags and insignias of bona fide civic, charitable, fraternal and welfare or religious organizations and national flags and flags of political subdivisions of the United States; provided, there are no more than three flags, any one of which may not exceed twenty (20) square feet on any single lot;

8.

Banners. One banner of no more than thirty-two (32) square feet in area for no more than fourteen (14) consecutive days in any year;

9.

Permanent signs on vending machines and dispensers such as gasoline pumps;

10.

Signs not exceeding two square feet locating utility facilities;

11.

One or more political campaign signs which, in aggregate, do not exceed a total of thirty-two (32) square feet in area, set back at least fifteen (15) feet from the curbline, on any privately owned lot, except where a building is located less than fifteen (15) feet from the curbline and, in that event, the setback is the lesser of fifteen (15) feet or the distance between the building and the curbline;

12.

Nonbusiness signs (which are not outdoor advertising structures as defined in Section 17.216.020) may be erected for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days in any calendar year by or for the owner or lawful occupant of any lot or structure which signs, in aggregate, do not exceed a total of six square feet in area, nonilluminated. Such signs must be set back at least fifteen (15) feet from the curbline on any lot or affixed to an occupied dwelling, structure or building, except where such dwelling, structure or building is located less than fifteen (15) feet from the curbline and, in that event, the setback is the lesser of fifteen (15) feet or the distance between the dwelling structure or building and the curbline;

13.

Temporary (as defined in Section 17.216.020) real estate signs as specified in Section 17.216.050(E), which have a maximum area of eight square feet, nonilluminated;

14.

Temporary (as defined in Section 17.216.020) construction signs as specified in Section 17.216.050(G);

15.

Name and address signs not exceeding one for each principal business or use on a premises and not exceeding two square feet in area;

16.

Temporary (as defined in Section 17.216.020) directional signs as specified in Section 17.216.050(K).

C.

The following temporary signs or displays may be permitted upon written approval of the director of the department of infrastructure and development:

1.

Signs advertising a special civic or cultural event such as a fair or exposition, play, concert or meeting, sponsored by a governmental or charitable organization;

2.

Special decorative displays used for holidays, public demonstrations or promotion for nonpartisan civic purposes;

3.

Special sales promotion displays, in districts where sales are permitted, including displays incidental to the opening of a new business.

D.

Signs which are allowed to be lighted may be lighted; provided, that the light illuminating any sign shall be shaded, shielded or directed so that it shall not adversely affect surrounding properties or the vision of drivers or pedestrians on public or private rights-of-way or parking areas.

E.

No business ground sign may be located closer than twenty-five (25) feet from a residentially zoned property, and no wall sign shall be placed on the side or rear of a building adjoining a residential district.

F.

Wherever a use for which a business ground sign is permitted has frontage on more than one street, one additional ground sign may be permitted with a total surface area not to exceed one-half that which is permitted for the first ground sign.

G.

Setbacks for signs shall be measured from the curbline where existing or proposed, except that wherever a city or state right-of-way fifteen (15) feet or more in width is maintained beyond the curbline, setbacks for all ground signs shall be no less than five feet from the right-of-way line.

H.

Heights of signs shall be measured from the ground to the top edge of the rectangle enclosing the sign surface area, except for roof signs. Wherever the ground on which the sign is to be located is below the grade of the roadway for which the sign is designated to be viewed, the height of the sign shall be measured from the grade level of the curbline along such roadway.

I.

No ground sign shall be located so as to substantially obstruct the view of a ground sign on adjoining property when viewed from a distance of two hundred (200) feet at any point four feet above the roadway grade of the traffic lane closest to the street property line.

J.

No sign may be arranged or located in any district so that it interferes with traffic through glare, through blocking of reasonable sight lines for streets, sidewalks or driveways or through confusion with a traffic control device.

K.

A sign advertising a nonconforming business or industrial use located in a residential district shall conform to the sign regulations set forth in Section 17.216.080.

L.

In any district, the surface area of one ground sign may be increased by twenty-five (25) percent if the permitted wall sign surface area is reduced by fifty (50) percent.

(Ord. 2014, 2006; Ord. 1976 (part), 2005; Ord. 1886, 2003; Ord. 1612 (part), 1995; prior code § 150-262)

( Ord. No. 2459, 10-9-2017 )