[Amended 12-29-2005 by Ord. No. 206]
A. Declaration of policy.
(1) It is hereby declared to be the policy of the City of Beverly that
the protection of property values, the protection of the character
of the various neighborhoods in the City, the encouragement of the
sound development of land throughout the City for its most appropriate
use, and the protection of the public welfare in general requires
strict limitation of all display signs in the City.
(2) It is the general policy of the City that the primary purpose of
a sign is for the identification of a business and not for advertisement.
The design of the sign must respect and be compatible with the architecture
of the building and surrounding buildings for which or upon which
it is being erected.
(3) The intent of setting size, design, and location parameters for signs
is not to promote the design of nearly identical signs, but to define
limits within which applicants can be creative.
(4) Any sign placed on land or on a structure for the purposes of identification
or protection of the same or for advertising a use conducted thereon
shall be deemed to be accessory and incidental to such land, structure
or use. All applications for a building permit to erect or alter any
sign shall be reviewed by the Design Review Board. It is the purpose
of this article to place such limitations on display of all such signs
in order to achieve a sense of order and aesthetics, to promote attractive
commercial areas and entrances to the City of Beverly, to provide
for the display of signs which are structurally safe and do not interfere
with traffic movement, traffic signals, or traffic signs; and to assure
that the signs will be appropriate to the land, building or use to
which they are appurtenant and be adequate, but not excessive, for
the purpose of identification. With respect to signs identifying business
uses, such regulations have been devised after considering, among
other matters, shopping habits, extent of trade areas, and means of
access to such uses, and are specifically intended, among other things,
to avoid excessive competition among sign displays in their demand
for public attention.
(5) Any exterior design features of a building or structure that are
associated with a corporate image or identification of a business
shall be considered a sign, or the extension of the area of a sign,
and subject to regulation under this article.
B. General guidelines. All signs must meet the following general guidelines regardless of zoning district and shall not violate the provisions of §
300-69:
(1) The definitions for signs at §
300-5 shall apply to this article.
(2) Sign location. Signs must be located so as not to detract from a
building's architecture. A sign shall not be placed so that it obscures
architectural elements such as roofs, cornices, columns, arches, windows,
details, or other such building features or ornamentation.
(3) Style and design of sign. Lettering, shape, and color employed in
a sign shall be compatible with the form, color, and materials of
the building housing the establishment that the sign is identifying.
Signs for different businesses within the same building, or for a
collection of buildings, including but not limited to those which
from a shopping center, shall be of harmonious style and design.
(4) Sign message. Given a sign's primary purpose is identification, a
sign's message should clearly and simply identify a business. A sign
may include lettering and symbols to indicate the name and the kind
of primary business, service or facility conducted on the premises,
and the year the business was established. The sign may include a
street address.
(5) Trademark. A sign may incorporate no more than one registered trademark,
logo, or identifying symbol, provided that the registered trademark,
logo, or identifying symbol must be for an establishment only, not
for a commodity or product sold by the establishment. The area of
the registered trademark, logo, or identifying symbol shall be included
in the calculation of the allowable area of the sign.
(6) Illumination. Except as otherwise provided, signs may be illuminated
either internally through the use of some sort of translucent materials
(for example, individual letters, opaque, overhang) with lights behind
or with neon tubing or externally through mounting of incandescent
or fluorescent lamps directed at the sign on the building. The type
of illumination employed shall not distract from the building's architecture.
Colored lighting, open flame, or bare bulbs shall not be used.
(7) No sign or any portion of any sign shall be allowed to have changeable
messages, except those signs belonging to theaters, places of worship,
nonprofit educational entities.
(8) In the case of any inconsistencies among the provisions of this Article
XI, the most restrictive provisions shall apply.
The following signs shall be allowed by right without the necessity of Design Review Board (DRB) approval; provided, however, that they shall conform with the provisions of §
300-66:
A. Signs erected by or on the order of a governmental agency when limited
to governmental purposes, and excluding any advertising.
B. Names of building, date of erection, monument citation and commemorative
tablets when made a permanent and integral part of a building or site,
not exceeding five square feet.
C. Banners or flags emblematic of or issued by national, state, or local
governments.
D. Holiday decorations and lights when in season.
E. Signs not to exceed two square feet in size which indicate warnings,
hazards, or public conveniences such as "trespass," "beware of dog,"
and rest room signs.
F. Signs not to exceed two square feet in size which are necessary for
safety and direction of residents, employees, customers and visitors,
whether in a vehicle or on foot, provided that such signs do not carry
the name or symbol of any product and that the name or symbol of any
business does not take up more than 30% of the sign space.
G. Signs whose purpose is to identify a house of worship or a community
building, provided that the sign does not exceed 12 square feet in
size and is not internally illuminated.
H. Signs not to exceed two square feet in size whose purpose is giving
only direction and distance to a specified house of worship or community
buildings, provided that no such sign shall be illuminated.
I. Home signs, not to exceed two square feet in size, which indicate
the name and address of the occupant(s) of a dwelling.
J. A sign, not to exceed two square feet, which indicates a permitted
accessory use or home occupation.
K. One temporary sign, not to exceed six square feet in all residential districts or 24 square feet in all other districts, which announces the prospective sale, rent, lease, or trade of, or contracting work done on, the property. Such sign shall be removed within three days after the sale, rental, lease, trade, or completion of work on such premises. Temporary signs announcing an "open house" event for the prospective sale or lease of a property are allowed, provided such signs are erected no more than three hours prior to commencement of the event and are removed within one hour of the close of the event, and provided that no more than three such signs shall be erected for any one event. "Open house" event signs are allowed off-premises, subject to the provisions of this Subsection
K.
[Amended 6-20-2007 by Ord. No. 57]
L. Directory boards attached to buildings shall be allowed for the sole
purpose of directing the public to and identifying the location of
occupants or tenants within a building(s), provided that the letters
in directory boards shall not exceed one inch in height; and the total
sign area shall not exceed three square feet.
M. One sign on the gasoline pump indicating the types and prices of
gasoline, provided the sign shall not exceed one square foot.
N. Temporary window signs on the first floors of nonresidential buildings, provided they do not exceed the smaller of six square feet or 20% of the area of the window (see definition of "sign area" in §
300-5) and are up no longer than 14 days.
The following types of signs are prohibited:
A. Any sign displaying flashing or intermittent lights, or lights of
changing degrees of intensity, except a sign indicating time or temperature,
with changes alternating on not less than a five-second cycle when
such time or temperature sign does not constitute a public safety
or traffic hazard, in the judgment of the Building Inspector and the
judgment of the Design Review Board.
B. Any lighting either by exposed tubing or string of lights outlining
a part or all of a building or affixed to any ornamental feature thereof,
except those items temporarily affixed to a building or other portions
of the premises which denote a particular season of the year or universally
celebrated holiday.
C. Any sign that obscures a sign displayed by public authority for the
purpose of giving traffic instructions or directions or other public
information.
D. Any sign that uses the word "stop" or "danger" or otherwise presents
or implies the need or requirement of stopping or caution or the existence
of danger, or which is a copy or imitation of, or which for any reason
is likely to be confused with any sign displayed by public authority.
E. Any sign that obstructs light or impedes a person's passage through
any window, door, fire escape, stairway, ladder or opening intended
to provide light, air, ingress, or egress for any building, as required
by law.
F. Any sign or sign illumination that causes any direct glare into or
upon any street, or into or upon any building other than the building
to which the sign is affixed.
G. Any portable sign (except a sandwich board sign), with or without
self-contained wheels, which is designed and constructed so as not
to be permanently affixed to the land (namely, freestanding) and moved
from one place or location to another. This includes any removable
signs displayed on a vehicle.
[Amended 6-20-2007 by Ord. No. 57]
H. Any sign that violates any provision of any law of the state relative
to outdoor advertising.
I. Signs constructed, erected or maintained above the roofline of any
building, except with Design Review Board approval.
J. Any off-premises sign, such as a billboard, which indicates a use
or product not available on the property where the sign is located.
K. Any sign which advertises or calls attention to any products, businesses,
or activities which are no longer sold or carried on at the premises
where the sign is located. No such sign shall remain for more than
30 days beyond the date the business vacates said premises. Both the
landlord and the lessee shall be individually responsible for removing
such signs.
L. Any right-angle wall sign that project more than four feet from a
building face or wall.
M. Any sign which, due to its placement, obscures the visibility of
motor vehicles, thus creating a traffic hazard.
N. Any sign not expressly permitted by this chapter.
Except as provided for in §
300-68, no sign shall be erected or an existing sign altered in any way without review and approval by the Design Review Board and without issuance of a building permit as required by the Building Inspector. All such signs shall be subject to the following design review process:
A. Application. The applicant shall submit to the Design Review Board
seven copies of the application form describing the design of the
proposed sign along with a colored drawing of the sign to scale, a
site plan, if applicable, and a photograph showing the existing building
or site, and such other material as may be required by the Design
Review Board. The submittal of the application shall be in form and
format as specified by the Design Review Board. The Board may revise
such application requirements, as necessary, from time to time.
B. Design review application fees. The applicant shall submit to the
Design Review Board the application form, other required materials
and the application fee identified below:
(1) For signs and canopies: $2 per square foot.
(2) For new building construction: $100.
C. Design Review Board decision. Within 60 days of the receipt of the
application, including all required materials, the Design Review Board
shall either approve or disapprove the application. It is suggested
that the applicant be present at the meeting. Should the DRB fail
to take action within 60 days after receiving an application, the
requested sign shall be deemed approved by the Design Review Board.
D. Sign permit. Upon notice of approval from the Design Review Board, the applicant may apply for a sign permit for the proposed signage from the Building Inspector. In keeping with §
300-22, and in recognition of the difficulty in regulating the use of all types of signs within the City, the Design Review Board shall also be assigned the following duties:
(1) The Design Review Board shall approve or disapprove all signs proposed
now or hereafter within the City of Beverly which are not expressly
allowed by right by this chapter. In approving or disapproving any
particular sign not expressly allowed by this chapter, the Design
Review Board shall take into consideration the following:
(a)
The zoning district, the uses existing in the area, and the
general character of the area.
(b)
The economic and business interests of the party having erected
or proposing to erect the sign.
(c)
The aesthetic appearance of the sign and its overall effect on the surrounding area, including ensuring that the sign is consistent with the general policy and adheres to the design guidelines as defined in §
300-66.
(2) The Design Review Board shall not approve the erection of any sign
expressly prohibited by this chapter, other City ordinance, or the
Building Code of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
[Amended 7-12-2011 by Ord. No. 61]
The Zoning Board of Appeal, by special permit, may allow deviation from the requirements of this article if it determines that special circumstances or conditions exist with respect to application of the requirements contained herein and that such deviation will be in harmony with the general purpose and intent of this article and the general policy set forth in §
300-66 hereof and will not be injurious to the neighborhood or adversely affect abutting properties.