It is the declared purpose of this article that in time all privately owned signs shall either conform to the provisions of this chapter or be removed. By the passage of this chapter and its amendments, no illegal sign shall be deemed to have been legalized unless such sign complies with all current standards under the terms of this chapter and all other ordinances of the city. Any sign which does not conform to all provisions of this chapter shall be a nonconforming sign under prior ordinances, or an illegal sign, if it did not exist as conforming or nonconforming sign, as the case may be. It is further the intent and declared purpose of this chapter that no offense committed, and no liability, penalty or forfeiture, either civil or criminal, incurred prior to the time the ordinance from which this chapter is derived was adopted shall be discharged or affected by such passage, but prosecution and suits for such offenses, liabilities, penalties or forfeitures may be instituted, and causes presently pending may proceed.
[Ord. No. 817-97, § 9(A), 5-13-1997]
Nonconforming signs which have been blown down or otherwise destroyed or dismantled for any purpose other than maintenance operations or for changing the letters, symbols or other matter on the sign shall be removed or brought into compliance with this chapter if the cost of repairing the sign is more than 60 percent of the cost of erecting a new sign of the same type at the same location.
[Ord. No. 817-97, § 9(B), 5-13-1997]
A sign lawfully existing or under construction on the effective date of the ordinance from which this section derives, which does not conform to one or more of the provisions of this chapter may be continued in operation and maintained as a legal nonconforming sign. A nonconforming sign shall be allowed to remain until such time as:
(1) 
The sign is abandoned; or
(2) 
The property owner or tenant changes or alters the sign in any manner other than by normal maintenance to the configuration existing at the time of enactment of this chapter, without a permit to do so; or
(3) 
It is determined by the building official that the sign is illegal or a threat to health, safety, or welfare of the citizens and/or a nuisance in accordance with this chapter or other applicable law.
Upon the occurrence of any of the above, the owner of the property on which the sign is located shall remove the sign upon order of the building official.
[Ord. No. 1041-06, § 6, 1-10-2006]