Editor's Note—Exhibit B "lease agreement for sign premises" and Exhibit C "sign agreement" are on file in the Registrar's office with original ordinance 07-040.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 - Exhibit A: Design of SignsAttachment 2 - Exhibit B: Lease Agreement For Sign PremisesAttachment 3 - Exhibit C: Sign AgreementAttachment 4 - Exhibit D: Sign Agreement
[Ord. No. 07-050 §1, 3-27-2007]
The purpose of these regulations is to provide for signage along designated corridors to provide limited directional information to cultural sites, recreational facilities, historical sites, certain activities related to tourism or recreation and/or transportation facilities.
[Ord. No. 07-050 §1, 3-27-2007]
A. 
The Director of the Department of Community Development shall administer the St. Charles County Directional and Way-Finding Signage Program and shall be responsible for:
1. 
Identifying and securing sites for signs meeting the requirements of these regulations and on terms subject to approval by the St. Charles County Council;
2. 
Establishing design criteria for uniformity of signage, which criteria shall conform substantially to concept designs provided in Exhibit A attached to these regulations;
3. 
Coordinating the fabrication and erection of sign assemblies and the printing of signs to be placed on them with the St. Charles County Engineer;
4. 
Maintaining sign assemblies and the sites on which they are erected;
5. 
Ensuring compliance with these regulations and payment by entities placing signs on sign assemblies of all fees required herein.
[Ord. No. 07-050 §1, 3-27-2007]
When used in these regulations, the following terms shall have the following meanings.
CULTURAL SITE
Any facility for the performing arts, exhibits or concerts that is open to all age groups.
DIRECTIONAL SIGN
Sign installed in advance of the closest intersection where motorists must make a decision to turn or continue on a path to arrive at the desired permitted activities.
EDUCATIONAL SITE
Exhibit or structure open to public viewing including, but is not limited to, zoological or botanical park in which living animals, insects or plants are kept and exhibited to the public.
HISTORIC SITE
Structure, site or district listed on the National Register of Historic Places and/or open to the public for guided tours with an educational format for informing visitors about St. Charles County history.
LEGEND
Content on sign face indicating name of permitted activity, logo, directional arrow and distance information.
MUSEUM
A facility open to the public at least one hundred (100) days per year in which works of artistic, historical or scientific value are cared for and exhibited to the public.
PERMITTED ACTIVITY
Any historic site, cultural site, recreational site, educational site, museum, airport, ferries or tourist-oriented activity.
RECREATIONAL SITE
1. 
Recreational area including area for bicycling, boating, fishing, hiking, picnicking.
2. 
Golf course open to the public and offering at least nine (9) holes of play (but not miniature golf course, driving range, chip and putt course or indoor golf facility).
3. 
Marina having at least twenty (20) slips and offering services to the public.
4. 
Winery or brewery, licensed facility producing a minimum of five hundred (500) gallons of wine and/or beer per year, open to the public for guided tours, tasting and/or sales a minimum of three hundred twenty (320) hours per year and providing an educational format for informing visitors about wine and/or beer processing.
SIGN ASSEMBLY
A structure or support displaying up to eight (8) signs providing directional information.
TOURIST-ORIENTED ACTIVITY
Any historic site, cultural site, recreational site, educational site, museum or transportation facility.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITY
River ferry; airport.
WAY-FINDING SIGN
A sign that is installed in advance of the closest intersection where motorists must make the last decision to turn before turning onto the site of the permitted activity and such site is not visible from the intersection or the site is more than three hundred (300) feet from such intersection.
[Ord. No. 07-050 §1, 3-27-2007]
A. 
Directional Signs.
1. 
Directional signs shall conform to specific sign designs that will apply to all directional signs within a designated corridor. Sign design and designated corridors shall be approved by the Governing Body. Directional signs shall be constructed from material that conforms to the 1999 Missouri Standard Specifications for Highway Construction, Section 1042.2.7.3 and consists of engineer grade reflective sheeting. The maximum size of each sign on a sign assemble shall be one and seventy-five hundredths (1.75) feet wide and six (6) feet in length. Each sign should be rectangular in shape and shall have a white legend and border on a blue background.
2. 
The sign assembly shall not be larger than one hundred twenty (120) square feet, containing up to eight (8) signs each being one and seventy-five hundredths (1.75) feet tall and six (6) feet wide. In lieu of one (1) sign assembly containing one hundred twenty (120) square feet at a permitted location, two (2) sign assemblies, each containing no more that sixty (60) square feet, and four (4) permitted activity signs are permitted. Individual signs may contain a directional arrow. An assembly in which individual signs have directional arrows shall group all those with like direction instructions and prioritized on the sign ordered with left turns on top or on the upper left side of the sign, followed by right turns and straight ahead. The total sign height shall not exceed eighteen (18) feet.
3. 
The content of the legend on each panel shall be limited to the business identification and directional information. The legends shall not include promotional advertising. Each sign shall have a maximum of two (2) lines of legend including a separate directional arrow and the distance to the facility shown beneath the arrow.
4. 
The sign assembly may also include a sign indicating a general activity description and theme design.
5. 
All letters and numbers on directional signs, except on the logos, should be uppercase and at least six (6) inches in height.
B. 
Way-Finding Signs. Way-finding signs shall be no larger than sixteen (16) square feet. Content is limited to the name of a single attraction and necessary travel information. Sign height shall not exceed ten (10) feet.
C. 
General Regulations For Directional And Way-Finding Signs.
1. 
Signs shall be retroflective to meet MoDOT and MUTCD requirements.
2. 
Sign supports may need to meet MoDOT breakaway requirement as determined by the County Engineer. The signs must be on their own supports and not mounted on other sign or pole structures.
[Ord. No. 07-050 §1, 3-27-2007]
A. 
Designated Corridors. Directional and way-finding signs may be installed along the following designated corridors:
1. 
Highway 94 North commencing four hundred (400) feet south of Highway B to West Alton City limits and Highway 94 South from Highway 40/61 to Warren County.
2. 
Highways B, C, J, V, DD and F from Highway D to Highway 94 South.
Portage Road, Grafton Ferry Road, Orchard Farm Road, Wilson Road, Church Road from Washeon Road west, Washeon Road and Seeburger Road.
B. 
Location Requirements For Directional Signage.
1. 
The sign assembly shall be no more than four hundred (400) feet from intersections where a directional decision may be needed.
2. 
The sign assembly shall be no closer than one hundred fifty (150) feet from the intersection measured from the right-of-way.
3. 
Sign structures shall be one hundred fifty (150) feet apart measured along the right-of-way.
4. 
The sign assembly must be located within the first fifteen (15) feet of depth on private property or with County approval in County roadway right-of-way.
5. 
Sign locations shall not interfere with traffic control signage.
6. 
Signs within County right-of-way shall obtain the approval of the County Engineer through issuance of a special use permit.
7. 
In no instance shall more than two (2) directional sign assemblies of sixty (60) square feet each be provided on the approach side of a road before an intersection.
C. 
Location Requirements For Way-Finding Signage.
1. 
A way-finding sign shall be located on private property or with approval from the appropriate County agency in the ROW and within fifty (50) feet of the required turn.
2. 
A way-finding sign shall not be permitted if other directional signs are present at the intersection.
D. 
Exceptions To Location Requirements.
1. 
Sign assemblies shall only be permitted on the same side of the roadway as the direction of travel to the permitted activity unless an exception is approved.
Exceptions to the location requirements may be considered and approved by the Director of Community Development based upon substantial findings that the regulations, physical constraints or the inability to obtain private property easement rights for sign locations result in the inability to reasonably permit such signage per the location standards.
[Ord. No. 07-050 §1, 3-27-2007; Ord. No. 08-037 §1, 4-4-2008]
A. 
The Director of the Department of Community Development shall coordinate acquisition of leased premises for sign assemblies and shall submit proposed leases to the County Council for its approval by consent agenda. Such leases shall conform substantially to Exhibit B attached to these regulations.
B. 
The Director of the Department Community Development shall coordinate annual agreements for placing signs on sign assemblies. Such agreements shall conform substantially to Exhibit C attached to these regulations and may be executed by the County Executive upon the Director's recommendation.
C. 
Annual fees for placement of signs on sign assemblies shall be calculated to defray the costs of site acquisition (amortized over the term of the lease for leased premises), of sign assembly and installation (amortized over a term of two (2) years) and of maintenance of the sign assembly (calculated annually). Fees shall be recalculated on a pro rata basis upon addition or removal of signs affixed to sign assemblies
D. 
The Director of the Department of Community Development shall have discretion to decide which sign assembly to erect at a given site and the number of signs to place on that sign assembly based on consultation with projected users of the sign assembly.
E. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, where a permitted activity leases premises meeting the requirements of these regulations for a sign assembly that will carry only that permitted activity's sign, the Director of the Department of Community Development may enter into a sign agreement with that permitted activity conforming substantially to Exhibit D attached to these regulations.
[Ord. No. 07-050 §1, 3-27-2007]
If any entity which, having placed a directional or way-finding sign on a sign assembly, fails to pay any fee required by Section 417.060 the Director of the Department of Community Development shall issue and serve by personal service and/or first-class mail, postage prepaid, a notice of delinquency with an order to pay the fee in question within ten (10) days of the notice's date. If the fee remains unpaid on that date, the Director shall remove the entity's sign without further notice and terminate the County's agreement with the entity conducting the permitted activity.