Definitions. The following definitions shall apply in interpretation
and enforcement of this Chapter unless otherwise specifically stated:
BANNER
A sign made of fabric, plastic, paper or other light pliable
material, not enclosed in a rigid frame and characteristically suspended
along or across a public street.
BUILDING FACE OR WALL
All window and wall area on the first (1st) floor of a building
in one (1) plane or elevation; or, for multi-story single tenant buildings,
all window and wall area in one (1) plane or elevation.
CANOPY
Any structure attached to a building at the inner end and
supported on the other end, or a freestanding structure, with one
(1) or more supports, meant to provide shelter from weather elements
onto which signs may be affixed or incorporated.
CHANGEABLE COPY SIGN (MANUAL)
A sign on which copy is changed manually in the field, i.e.,
reader boards with changeable letters or changeable pictorial panels.
CITY
The City of Richmond Heights, Missouri.
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
The Building Commissioner or other officially designated
representative of the City of Richmond Heights responsible for the
enforcement of the Sign Ordinance and other ordinances.
COPY
The wording or graphics on a sign surface.
COVERED MALL BUILDING
A building enclosing a number of occupancies which are typically
served by a roofed-over common pedestrian area serving more than one
(1) tenant.
ELECTION SEASON
The period from sixty (60) days prior to any election voted
in by the residents of Richmond Heights until two (2) weeks after
that election.
ELECTRONIC MESSAGE SIGN
Any sign, or portion of a sign, that displays an electronic
image, which may or may not include text, where the rate of change
is electronically programmed and can be modified by electronic processes.
Electronic message signs include computer programmable, microprocessor,
or controlled electronic displays and the images can be produced from
LED technology, fiber optics, light bulbs, or other illumination devices
within the display area. Electronic message signs do not include projected
images or messages projected onto buildings or other objects. Electronic
signs are permitted only by attachment to or placement as a ground
sign.
ERECT
To build, construct, reconstruct, attach, hang, rehang, alter,
place, affix, enlarge, move or relocate, and includes the painting
and repainting of existing sign structures.
FACADE
The front or main part of a building facing a street; for
purposes of this Chapter, the facade is defined as measured from the
ground elevation to the head beam.
FLASHING SIGN
Any sign which contains an intermittent or flashing light
source, or which includes the illusion of intermittent or flashing
light by means of animation, or an externally mounted intermittent
light source.
FRONTAGE
The length of the lot along the street side. The front of
a lot bordering more than one (1) street is considered separately
for each street.
GROUND LEVEL
The level equivalent to that of the immediate surrounding
grade.
HEIGHT OF SIGN
The vertical distance measured from the surrounding grade
to the highest point of the sign.
ILLEGAL SIGNS
A sign which contravenes this Chapter or a non-conforming
sign for which a permit required under a previous ordinance was not
obtained.
LOGO
A letter, character or symbol used to represent a person,
corporation or business enterprise.
LOT
A parcel, tract, plot or area of land accessible by means
of a street or other permanently reserved principal means of access.
It may be a single parcel separately described in a deed or plat which
is recorded in the office of the County Recorder of Deeds, or it may
include parts of or a combination of such parcels when adjacent to
one another and used as one as determined by the Code Enforcement
Officer.
MARQUEE
Any structure attached to a building at the inner end and
supported on the other end or a freestanding structure, with one (1)
or more supports, onto which signs may be affixed or incorporated.
OBSCENE
Material which deals with sex in a manner appealing to a
prurient interest.
OWNER
A person reflected as such on official records and including
duly authorized agent, purchaser, lessee, devisee, and any person
having a vested or contingent interest in the property or business
in question.
PERMIT
A building permit obtained from the Code Enforcement Officer/Building
Commissioner.
PERSON
Any natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind.
PREMISES
An area of land with its appurtenances and buildings which,
because of its unity of use, may be regarded as the smallest conveyable
unit of real estate.
READER BOARD
Any sign that has changeable or removable lettering.
REGIONAL MALL
A planned development containing a minimum of one million
(1,000,000) square feet of floor space.
RIGHT-OF-WAY (R.O.W)
The proposed right-of-way as indicated on the City of Richmond
Heights Comprehensive Plan and/or as set forth in the City of Richmond
Heights Subdivision Ordinance, as well as all such other areas dedicated
to the public for use as streets, roadways, walkways or alleys at
the time of adoption of this Chapter and any such areas acquired subsequent
thereto.
ROOFLINE
The highest point of the coping on a flat roof, false mansard,
or parapet wall; the deckline of a true mansard roof; the ridge line
between the upper and lower slopes of a gambrel roof; or the mean
height level between the eaves and the ridge for a gable or hip roof.
SETBACK
The minimum horizontal distance between either the face of
curb, the edge of pavement, or the right-of-way line and the sign
structure as specified in a particular Section of this Chapter.
SHOPPING CENTER
A building containing four (4) or more shops, stores, and
other places of business and providing off-street parking facilities
for all of the businesses and their customers.
SIGN
Any identification, description, illustration or device,
illuminated or non-illuminated, which is visible from any public right-of-way
or is located on private property and exposed to the public right-of-way
and which directs attention to a product, service, place, activity,
person, institution, business or solicitation, including any permanently
installed or situated merchandise or any emblem, painting, banner,
pennant or placard designed to advertise, identify or convey information.
For the purpose of removal, signs shall also include all sign structures.
For the purposes of this Chapter, this definition shall include those
signs painted directly upon a building or other structure.
SIGN AREA
The area of the sign face. The "sign area" of a multi-faced sign is the sum of the sign areas of each face,
excluding structural trim and supports, provided there is no advertising
copy on such trim or supports. If a sign is attached to a building
or suspended in any manner whereby there is no apparent trim or confining
border, the sign area shall be computed by drawing an imaginary straight
line around a generally rectangular margin and measuring the area
so encompassed upon a building or other structure.
SIGN, ATTACHED
A sign erected or placed upon the wall of any building with
the plane of the face parallel to the plane of the wall below the
roofline.
SIGN, BILLBOARD
An off-premises sign, any part of the contents of which is
visible from any point on the traveled ways of the interstate or primary
road system.
SIGN, CONSTRUCTION
A temporary sign erected on the premises on which construction
is taking place, during the period of such construction.
SIGN, FACE OF
The area of a sign on which the copy may be placed. The area
of a sign visible from one (1) direction as projected on a plane.
SIGN, DIRECTIONAL INFORMATION
A sign which is designed and erected for the purpose of traffic
or pedestrian direction and placed on the property to which or on
which the public is directed including entrance and exit signs.
SIGN, GROUND
Any detached on-premises sign which has its bottom portion
erected upon or supported by the ground, a ground planter box, or
other supports.
SIGN, HANGING
Any sign hanging entirely beneath the canopy, portico or
marquee.
SIGN, ILLUMINATED
Any sign which is illuminated by light sources mounted on
or in the sign or at some other location.
SIGN, INCIDENTAL
A sign which is too small to be legible from a position off
the premises.
SIGN, NON-CONFORMING
A sign legally erected under the previously existing ordinances
of the City, but which does not conform to the provisions of this
Chapter.
SIGN, OFF-PREMISES
A sign located on property not owned or leased by the owner
of the sign.
SIGN, ON-PREMISES
A sign located on property owned or leased by the owner of
the sign.
SIGN, POLE
Any detached on-premises sign which is supported by one (1)
or more stationary columns taller than ten (10) feet above the mean
grade line of the ground at its base, provided that this shall not
include a permitted ground sign.
SIGN, PROJECTING
A sign, other than a flat attached sign, which is attached
to and projects from a building wall or other structure.
SIGN, ROOF
Any sign erected on a roof but excluding marquee and canopy
signs and wall signs. The generally vertical plane of a mansard-type
roof shall be interpreted the same as a wall of a building.
SIGN STRUCTURE
The sign and all parts associated with its construction.
SIGN SUPPORTS
All structures by which a sign is held up including, for
example, poles, braces, guys and anchors.
SIGN, TEMPORARY
Any sign intended for a limited or intermittent period of
display.
SIGN, VEHICLE
Any sign attached to or painted on vehicles not used for
transportation purposes in the normal day-to-day operations of the
business that are parked and visible from the public right-of-way.
STREET
A public thoroughfare which affords the principal means of
access to abutting property.
USE
The purpose for which a building, lot, sign or other structure
is arranged, intended, designed, occupied or maintained.
ZONING ORDINANCE
The Zoning Ordinance of the City of Richmond Heights and
the current Zoning District Map related thereto.