The purpose of this chapter is to promote and
protect the public health, welfare and safety by regulating existing
and proposed outdoor advertising signs and outdoor signs of all types.
It is intended to protect property values, create a more attractive
economic and business climate, enhance and protect the physical appearance
of the community, preserve the scenic and natural beauty of designated
areas and provide a more enjoyable and pleasing community. It is further
intended hereby to reduce sign or advertising distractions and obstructions
that may contribute to traffic accidents, reduce hazards that may
be caused by signs overhanging or projecting over public rights-of-way,
obstruct vision, provide more open space and curb the deterioration
of natural beauty and community environment.
This chapter shall hereafter be known and cited
as the "Sign Law of the Town of Webster."
As used in this chapter, unless otherwise expressly
stated, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ADVERTISING SIGN
A sign which directs attention to a business, commodity,
service or entertainment conducted, sold or offered elsewhere than
upon the same lot.
BUILDING FACADE
That portion of any exterior elevation of a building extending
vertically from grade to the top of the parapet wall or eaves and
horizontally across the entire width of the width of the building
elevation.
[Added 11-5-2009 by L.L.
No. 3-2009]
BUSINESS SIGN
A sign which directs attention to a business or profession
conducted or to products sold upon the same lot.
CANOPY, ATTACHED
A multisided overhead structure or architectural projection
supported by attachment to a building on one or more sides and either
cantilevered from such building or also supported by columns at additional
points. The surface(s) and/or soffit of an attached canopy may be
illuminated by means of internal or external sources of light.
[Added 11-5-2009 by L.L.
No. 3-2009]
CANOPY, FREESTANDING
A multisided overhead structure supported by columns, but
not enclosed by walls. The surface(s) and/or soffit of a freestanding
canopy may be illuminated by means of internal or external sources
of light.
[Added 11-5-2009 by L.L.
No. 3-2009]
CANOPY SIGN
A sign affixed to the visible surface(s) of an attached or
freestanding canopy. May be internally or externally illuminated.
[Added 11-5-2009 by L.L.
No. 3-2009]
CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL
The Building Inspector or an individual employed by the Town and authorized by the Building Inspector to enforce the provisions of the Code. (See also §
350-3.)
[Amended 6-17-2010 by L.L. No. 5-2010]
DIRECTIONAL SIGN
A sign no larger than two square feet in size for the sole
purpose of traffic safety within a commercial, business or industrial
site, without advertisement.
ERECT
To build, construct, alter, repair, display, relocate, attach,
hang, place, suspend, affix or maintain any sign or portion thereof,
and shall also include the painting of exterior wall signs.
FACADE
The outer vertical surface of that side of the building on
which or over which a sign is placed, extending from the ground level
to the base of the roof line or parapet. Buildings located at a corner
intersection of two public highways may be considered to have a facade
facing each of the intersecting highways.
FLASHING SIGN
Any illuminated sign on which the artificial light is not
maintained stationary and constant in intensity and color at all times
when in use.
FOR SALE OR FOR RENT SIGN
A "For Sale" or "For Rent" sign relating to the lot or building
on which it is displayed shall be deemed a business sign.
ILLUMINATED SIGN
Any sign designed to give forth any artificial light or designated
to reflect such light deriving from any source which is intended to
cause such light or reflection.
LIGHTING DEVICE
Any light, string of lights or group of lights located or
arranged so as to cast illumination on a sign or on merchandise offered
for sale.
LUX
A derived unit based on candela, the SI (International System
of Units) unit of illuminance and luminous emittance. One lux is equal
to one lumen per square meter, where 4π lumens are the total
luminous flux of a light source of one candela of luminous intensity.
In non-SI measurements, one footcandle is equal to 10.764 lux.
[Added 11-5-2009 by L.L.
No. 3-2009]
MOVABLE OR ROTATING SIGN
A sign which is not fixed in place and capable of either
natural or artificial movement of all or any part thereof.
PERSON
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, institution or organization of any kind.
SIGN
Any structure or part thereof or any device attached to a
structure or painted or represented on a structure which shall display
or include any letter, word, model, banner, bulb, flag, pennant, insignia,
device or representation used as, or which is in the nature of, an
announcement, direction or advertisement. A sign includes any billboard,
but does not include the flag, pennant or insignia of any nation or
group of nations or of any state, city or other municipal unit. For
the purposes of this chapter the term "sign" does not include signs
erected and maintained pursuant to and in discharge of any governmental
function or required by any law, ordinance or governmental regulation,
including "posted" and "no trespassing" signs.
SIGN AREA
The factor derived from multiplying the highest vertical dimension by the widest horizontal dimension. See §
265-4O.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
TEMPORARY SIGN
Any sign (movable or stationary) that has not been approved
by the Planning Board as a permanent sign.
The regulations contained in this section shall apply to all signs in all use districts, regardless of designation, by the Town of Webster Zoning Ordinance (Chapter
350, Zoning).
A. Sign illumination.
[Amended 11-5-2009 by L.L. No. 3-2009[
(1) Any illuminated sign or lighting device shall employ
only light emitting a light of constant intensity, and no sign shall
rotate or move, nor shall it be illuminated by or contain flashing,
intermittent, rotating or moving light or lights.
(2) Sign graphics and lighting shall be designed to
allow for clear communication but should otherwise not be overlighted.
Signs with exterior illumination shall not glare into vehicular or
pedestrian traffic areas.
(3) Signs with interior illumination should have only
sign letters and logos lighted, not sign backgrounds. This concept
applies to all monument and building signage, including traffic entrance
and exit signs, if lighted. Sign lighting shall not glare to off site
locations. The luminance of all sign lighting shall be submitted for
Planning Board review along with the manufacturer's catalogue cuts
of the proposed signs. The lux level shall be set at 1,000 lux luminance
of/for any rear-lit signs in the Town of Webster.
B. Site identification signage should be limited to
monument signs not to exceed six feet above surrounding grade, where
permitted by zoning. The property address shall be displayed prominently/on
the top center of all monument signs.
C. “Corporate branding,” including corporate
text, symbols, graphics and other attention-getting devices which
are located on buildings, structures, and equipment, that extend beyond
the legal limits of sign areas permitted by zoning, is prohibited.
(1) Corporate branding, whose scale and interior location
is readily visible from a public right-of-way through exterior building
glazing, is discouraged.
(2) The placing of extensive corporate branding on
equipment which is visible from the public right-of-way is discouraged.
Examples of such equipment include, but are not limited to, devices
such as fuel pump cabinets and promotional product or services graphics.
D. No projecting
sign shall be erected or maintained from the facade of a building
a distance of more than four feet, including those projecting from
the facade of any theater, hotel or motel marquee.
E. No sign attached
to a building shall be so placed that any portion thereof shall be
above the base of the roof line or top of the parapet wall, except
in the case of mansard, gable or similar roof configurations, in which
case the signs must be confined within the area formed by the horizontal
and vertical dimensions of the facade or roof line.
F. No portable or temporary sign shall be placed on the facade of a building or on any premises, except as provided in §
265-6 herein.
G. No sign or part
thereof shall contain or consist of banners, posters, pennants, ribbons,
streamers, spinners or other similar moving, fluttering or revolving
devices. Said devices, as well as strings of lights, shall not be
used for the purposes of advertising or attracting attention when
not part of a sign.
H. No advertising
sign shall be permitted in any district unless specifically approved
by the Planning Board, which may impose reasonable conditions, as
it sees fit, including as to the duration of the signage.
I. No sign shall
be located closer than 25 feet from any right-of-way.
J. All signs containing
any electrical components or wiring shall have the underwriter's label
affixed thereto.
K. No sign shall
have exposed or open-face neon lighting.
L. No sign shall
be so located as to obstruct the vision of automobiles entering or
leaving any highway, driveway or right-of-way or within traffic lanes
of any parking area.
M. Any changes in
a business or advertising sign where there has been a change in the
ownership of the business shall require the new owner of the business
to apply for a permit for such sign pursuant to the requirements of
this chapter within 30 days of the transfer of ownership. The new
sign must be in conformance with the provisions of this chapter. Upon
failure to comply with this provision, such sign shall be considered
a nonpermitted sign, and the Code Enforcement Official is hereby authorized
to remove or cause removal of such sign, and shall assess all costs
and expenses incurred in such removal against the land or building
on which such sign is located.
[Amended 11-5-2009 by L.L. No. 3-2009]
N. When a proposed
development, building or use requires subdivision or site plan development,
a temporary sign identifying the name, address, telephone number of
the proposed project, contractor, engineer, owner, and/or architect,
which shall be placed on the premises in a location visible from the
public right-of-way. Such sign or signs shall not exceed 32 square
feet in area, and shall be approved by the Planning Board as part
of the approval process, and will not be erected until after final
site plan approval. The sign shall be removed upon the installation
of permanent signage or issuance of a certificate of occupancy, whichever
shall come first, but shall be removed after the expiration of 60
days of either event.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
O. Calculation of sign areas.
[Added 5-16-2013 by L.L. No. 2-2013]
(1) Box, cabinet or panel signs shall be calculated
by the means of the outside perimeter of the sign no matter its shape
being a square, circle, rectangle, or triangle.
(2) Channel sign shall be calculated by the means of
the smallest square, circle, rectangle, triangle or any shape combinations
encompassing the outer limits of the writing, representation, or emblem.
When a combination of writing, representation, insignia and emblem
are used having separation by a distance greater than the height of
the highest vertical dimension of the signs, the signs shall be considered
as separate signs. Otherwise, shall be calculated using the outer
limits of the writing, representation, or emblem.
(3) Multi-faced signs. The sign area of a sign having
more than one face will be calculated by adding the sum of all the
areas of each face visible from one point. When two identical sign
faces are back to back so that both signs cannot be viewed from any
point at the same time and when such sign faces are part of the same
structure and not apart greater than 24 inches, the sign shall be
calculated by the measurements of one face.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The following signs shall be permitted in business, commercial and industrial districts, but a permit therefor shall be required as provided herein. Except for those signs authorized under §§
265-4L,
265-5,
265-6A and
265-6C, no signs shall be erected or maintained except as follows:
A. The Planning Board
shall approve the number of facade signs per building not to exceed
the number of businesses, and the total sign area will not exceed
10% of the square footage of the facade of the building.
B. One freestanding
business sign not to exceed in square footage the factor derived by
multiplying the development's highway front footage by the perpendicular
distance in feet from the right-of-way line to the proposed sign location
times 1%. Not more than one freestanding sign shall be permitted for
one commercial development regardless of the number of separate businesses
conducted thereon. For the purposes of this section, the term "commercial
development" shall mean an area of land developed as a unified commercial
development regardless of the number of separate deeds or parcels
of land that may have been acquired for such development and whether
or not such development is constructed at one time or over a period
of years.
C. Unless specifically
permitted herein, all signs must be constructed in monument form and/or
style and not to exceed six feet in height above grade level at their
base, nor shall any portion of the sign measured horizontally from
the leading edge of the sign to a vertical line extending from the
highway right-of-way line be closer than 25 feet to any right-of-way
line.
D. When a proposed
development, building or use requires subdivision or site plan approval,
in accordance with the provisions of the Webster Zoning Ordinance, any and all permanent signs to be erected or used in conjunction with such development, building or use shall be approved by the Planning Board in conjunction with its approval of the development, building, use or site plan. The number of signs may be approved by the Planning Board. In a project larger than 10 acres, the Planning Board may consider additional signage (for example, directional signs). All applications for such signs shall be made to the Planning Board upon forms provided by the Town and signed by the owner, tenant and sign manufacturer. No sign may be erected until written approval has been given by the Planning Board or its authorized representative. In addition to the standards enumerated in Subsections
A,
B and
C, the Planning Board may prescribe the number, hours of operation, location, color, materials, design, illumination, uniformity and general character of each sign concurrent with subdivision or site plan approval. No sign, once approved, shall be altered in such a manner as to change its design, size, illumination or general character without receipt of prior approval of the Planning Board.
E. Notwithstanding
any other provision contained herein to the contrary, noncommercial
messages may be contained on any authorized sign.
After the effective date of this chapter, and
except as otherwise herein provided, no person shall erect any sign
as defined herein without first obtaining a permit therefor from the
Building Inspector.
Application for a sign permit shall be made
in writing, in duplicate, upon forms prescribed and provided by the
Building Inspector and shall contain the following information:
A. The name, address
and telephone number of the applicant.
B. The location of
the building, structure or land to which or upon which the sign is
to be erected.
C. A detailed drawing
or blueprint showing a description of the construction details of
the sign and showing the lettering and/or pictorial matter composing
the sign; position of lighting or other extraneous devices; a location
plan showing the position of the sign on any building or land, and
its position in feet to the nearest buildings or structures, any private
or public street or highway and to property lines.
D. Written consent
of the owner of the building, structure or land to which or on which
a sign is to be erected, in the event the applicant is not the owner
thereof.
E. A copy of any
required or necessary electrical permit issued for any sign or a copy
of the application therefor.
The fees for permanent signs shall be as set
by the fee schedule adopted by the Town Board from time to time.
[Amended 11-5-2009 by L.L. No. 3-2009]
A. To prevent hardship,
owners of signs in existence prior to the time this chapter is enacted,
which signs do not otherwise conform to the provisions of this chapter,
will be allowed to use such signs until their value is depreciated,
provided that such signs were registered prior to such effective date
on standard forms for that purpose as provided by the Code Enforcement
Official, whereupon permits are deemed to have been granted for such
signs, including signs existing pursuant to a variance granted by
the Zoning Board of Appeals. Except as otherwise provided herein,
nonconforming signs shall be made to conform to the provisions of
this chapter or shall be removed when the value of the sign is depreciated.
[Amended 6-17-2010 by L.L. No. 5-2010]
B. A nonconforming sign which is destroyed or damaged
to an extent in excess of 50% of its original construction shall not
be replaced except by a sign which conforms to the regulation of this
chapter.
C. Any change to
any nonconforming sign in excess of 25% of its total square foot area
will require the entire sign to be brought into compliance with the
provisions of this chapter.
D. Any sign which existed on the effective date of
this chapter shall not be enlarged, structurally altered or relocated,
except in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Repairs
are limited to those necessary to maintain the sign in a safe and
attractive condition. Where nonconforming signs are registered and
subsequently refurbished by replacing parts or portions of the sign,
or changing the text of the sign, such sign shall be declared illegal
and in violation of this chapter.
E. The effective
date of this chapter shall be December 1, 2009.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the
Code Enforcement Official relative to the provisions of this chapter
may appeal such decision to the Board of Appeals as provided in the
Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Webster and shall comply with all procedural
requirements prescribed by such Board of Appeals
Failure to comply with any of the provisions
of this chapter shall be deemed a violation, and the violator shall
be liable to a fine of not more than $1,000, and each day such violation
continues shall constitute a separate violation.
This chapter is applicable within the Town of
Webster and shall be construed as an exercise of the powers of such
municipality to regulate, control and restrict the use of buildings,
structures and land for outdoor advertising purposes, displays, signs
and other advertising media in order to promote the health, safety,
morals and general welfare of the community, including the protection
and preservation of the property of the municipality and its inhabitants
and of peace and good order, for the benefit of trade and all matters
related thereto.