This article is intended to:
A. Provide for signs as a means of effective visual communication;
B. Promote adopted comprehensive planning and zoning
objectives;
C. Assure compatibility of signs with land uses and buildings
in the vicinity of the signs and in the community as a whole;
D. Improve the safety of pedestrians, vehicular traffic,
and property;
E. Enhance the economic value of the community;
F. Enhance the aesthetic environment;
G. Minimize adverse effects of signs on nearby property;
H. Otherwise promote the public health, safety, morals,
and general welfare of the community;
I. Regulate the use of signs through a sign permitting
process; and
J. Enable the fair and consistent enforcement of these
sign regulations.
The following definitions of "sign" and kinds
of signs shall apply to those terms whenever they appear in this article:
BILLBOARD
An off-premises, permanent sign that directs attention to
a product, service, business, or cause.
BUILDING SIGN
A sign attached to or painted on a building that has a use
in addition to supporting the sign; this includes wall signs and roof
signs. A building sign may also be placed on an awning of a building
that projects a maximum of 48 inches from the building wall.
BUSINESS CENTER SIGN
A business sign that provides identification at the main
entrance to a center such as a shopping center, office complex, or
industrial park.
BUSINESS SIGN
A sign that directs attention to any business, professional,
commercial, or industrial activity occurring on the premises on which
the sign is located, but not including a home occupation sign. (Also
see "business center sign.")
CONTRACTOR SIGN
A temporary sign that carries the name and information about
a contractor who is involved in construction work occurring on the
premises or the institution or agency financing the construction on
which the sign is located.
ELECTION SIGN
A temporary sign that directs attention to a candidate or
candidates for public office, a political party, or a ballot issue.
FREESTANDING SIGN
A sign not attached to or painted on a building or a sign
attached to or painted on a building that has no use in addition to
supporting the sign.
GARAGE/YARD SALE SIGN
A temporary sign that directs attention to the sale of personal
goods on the premises on which the sign is located.
GOVERNMENT SIGN
An off-premises sign placed by a governmental unit, such
as a traffic, directional, informational, or street name sign or an
historical marker.
HOME OCCUPATION SIGN
A sign providing information about a business activity conducted
within a dwelling unit on the premises on which the sign is located.
IDENTIFICATION SIGN
A sign used to identify the name and display information
about the individual, organization, agency, institution, facility,
or development located on the premises on which the sign is located,
but not including a business sign. (Also see "development sign" and
"public use sign".)
INCIDENTAL SIGN
An informational sign, no more than two square feet in size,
that carries a message such as "enter," "open," "telephone," "rest
rooms," "no parking," "no trespassing," "warning," a listing of hours
when open, an on-site direction, or anything similar. Incidental signs
may not include any commercial message or logo, except that one "enter"
sign per entrance may include a logo or business name, as long as
the entrance is exclusively for that business and the logo or business
name is subordinate to the word "enter."
ISSUE SIGN
A temporary sign that directs attention to an opinion of
a public or private nature, such as but not limited to a community,
social, or religious issue.
LOT
For the sole purposes of this Article
VII, in addition to having the meaning established in §
380-21, the word "lot" may also mean each dwelling unit in a townhouse structure or each principal nonresidential tenant space in a multiple-tenant building.
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION SIGN
An off-premises sign displaying information about a place
of worship, service club, or other organization that does not operate
for the purpose of making a profit.
OFF-PREMISES SIGN
A sign that does not apply to the property on which it is
displayed.
OPEN HOUSE SIGN
A temporary sign that provides information about a real estate
open house, including the words "open house," the day and time of
the open house, and the name of the realtor.
OVERHEAD SIGN
A sign located such that pedestrian or vehicular traffic
might pass beneath any part of it.
PERMANENT SIGN
A sign intended to be displayed for an unlimited period of
time.
PROJECTING SIGN
A flat, two-sided sign that extends perpendicular outward
from the front of a building and which may extend over a sidewalk
if authorized under this article.
PUBLIC USE SIGN
An identification sign used to identify the name and display
information about a public use, such as a government building, school,
park, firehouse, or church.
PUBLIC UTILITY SIGN
A sign with a message relating to a business organization
performing a public service and subject to special governmental regulations
(e.g., an electric company, sewer authority, or telephone company).
REAL ESTATE SIGN
A temporary sign that provides information about a real estate
activity on the premises on which the sign is located, such as a sign
advertising a sale, rental, or property available for or in the process
of development, but not including an open house sign.
ROOF SIGN
A sign attached to or painted on a roof.
SIDEWALK SIGN
A temporary sign placed on the sidewalk adjacent to the commercial
activity it advertises, but not including a contractor sign, a garage/yard
sale sign, a home occupation sign, an open house sign, a real estate
sign, or a special event sign.
SIGN
A device for visual communication that is used to bring the
subject to the attention of the public. Signs do include lettering,
logos, trademarks, or other symbols that are an integral part of the
architectural design of a building, that are applied to a building,
or that are located elsewhere on the premises; signs affixed to windows
or glass doors or otherwise internally mounted such that they are
obviously intended to be seen and understood by vehicular or pedestrian
traffic outside the building; flags and insignia of civic, charitable,
religious, fraternal, patriotic, or similar organizations; insignia
of governments or government agencies; banners, streamers, pennants,
spinners, reflectors, ribbons, tinsel, and similar materials; and
inflatable objects. Signs do not include architectural features that
may be identified with a particular business; backlit awnings that
include no lettering, logos, or other symbols; signs within a building
that are obviously intended to be seen primarily from within the building;
outdoor signs intended for use within a property, such as menu signs
by fast-food restaurant drive-through lanes, signs with regulations
within a park, and building identification signs within a campus;
flags of governments or government agencies; decorative seasonal and
holiday banners on residential properties; and displays of merchandise
either behind store windows or outdoors.
SPECIAL-EVENT SIGN
A temporary sign that carries information about a special
event, such as an auction, flea market, festival, carnival, meal,
or fund-raising event, but not including any business sign, such as
a "sale" sign at a store.
TEMPORARY SIGN
A sign that is displayed for no more than three months in
any year, unless stated otherwise in this chapter.
UNIVERSITY SIGN
A sign that identifies or directs persons to buildings and
activities owned or leased by a college or university.
WALL SIGN
A sign attached to or painted on the wall of a building.
WINDOW DISPLAY
An exhibit behind a window that is intended to draw attention
to a product, service, business, or cause.
The following guidelines shall apply when interpreting
area and height regulations in this article:
A. Sign area. The area of a sign shall be the area of
the smallest rectangle, triangle, or circle that will encompass all
elements of the sign, such as letters, figures, symbols, designs,
or other display.
(1) When the sign is a separate unit, the area shall include
any borders, framing, trim, decorative attachments, background, and
space between elements; it shall not include any supporting structure,
unless that structure is illuminated, is in the form of a symbol,
or contains advertising elements.
(2) When the sign is applied to a wall or otherwise has
no definable edges, the area shall include all color, artwork, or
other means used to differentiate the sign from the surface upon which
it is placed.
(3) When a single sign structure has more than one face
with the same message, and no two sign faces are more than three feet
apart at any point, the area shall be computed by determining the
greatest total area of all sign faces visible from any single location.
B. Sign height. The height of a sign shall be measured
from the average ground level beneath the sign to the highest point
of the sign. No person(s) shall artificially increase the maximum
height of a sign by altering the grade at the base of the sign.
(1) The height of freestanding signs shall be controlled
by the regulations in Tables 1 and 2.
(2) Unless otherwise stated, wall signs may be at any
height on the wall to which they are attached, except that they may
not extend higher than the top of the wall.
(3) Roof signs may extend no more than five feet above
the lowest point where they are attached to the building and may not
extend above the highest point of the roof.
Sign permits for the placement of signs are
required as indicated by the last column in Tables 1 and 2. Sign permit application requirements, such as forms, plans,
and fees, shall be established by the Borough Council.
Nonconforming signs may continue to be displayed,
as long as there is compliance with the following limitations and
conditions:
A. There may be no expansion or increase in the nonconformity
in any way.
B. Maintenance and repair of the sign are permitted.
C. Except as required by Subsection
D below, an existing lawful nonconforming sign serving an existing use may be voluntarily replaced with a new sign, provided that the new sign is not more nonconforming in any manner than the existing sign.
D. The sign must be brought into conformity or replaced
by a conforming sign if, for a period of at least three months, the
message has no longer applied to an activity on the premises (this
does not apply to billboards).