For the purposes of this title, the following terms, words,
and phrases, and their derivations shall have the meanings as defined
in this chapter.
Accessory sign shall mean a sign whose copy
refers to the products, facilities, or services available on the premises.
Accessory window signs shall also include temporary posters attached
to windows or placed within five feet of any window and legible from
off the site.
Advertising statuary shall mean an imitation
or representation of a person or thing which is sculptured, molded,
modeled, or cast in any solid or plastic substance, material, or fabric
and used to identify or advertise a product or service. Advertising
statuaries shall be considered and regulated as signs.
Attraction board shall mean a sign capable
of supporting copy which is readily changeable such as a theater marquee,
and which refers to products, services, or coming events on the premises.
Banner shall mean the same as "flag."
Billboard shall mean an off-premises sign with
changing advertising copy.
Bulletin board shall mean a board, kiosk, or
wall area on which are affixed personal notices, lost-and-found notices,
business cards, and similar small informal notices referring to products,
services, activities, or other items not offered on the same premises.
The term bulletin board shall not include business identification
signs or attraction boards.
Building exposure shall mean the linear measurement
of exterior building walls enclosing interior spaces that are facing
an outdoor area.
Building frontage shall mean the linear measurement
of exterior building walls enclosing interior spaces that are facing
or oriented to a street or parking area.
Building-mounted sign shall mean a sign affixed
to a building, including awnings and windows.
Business shall mean a commercial, office, institutional,
or industrial establishment.
Cabaret shall mean a restaurant or cafe with
live entertainment.
Canopy shall have the same meaning as in Chapter
16.900.
Construction sign shall mean a sign containing
information pertaining to a future development on the site where the
sign is located, including the name of the project, the developer,
contractor, architect, financing source, future occupant(s), and other
information directly related to the development.
Development shall mean a building or group
of buildings which function as an integrated whole and which have
common access and/or parking facilities.
Directional sign shall mean a sign directing
motorists or pedestrians to parking or building entries or providing
similar directional information.
Director shall mean the Director of Community
Development of the City of Claremont or the Director's authorized
representative.
Electronic message center display shall mean
a sign having the capability of presenting variable message displays
by projecting an electronically controlled light pattern against a
contrasting background, and which can be programmed to change messages
by electronic processes, or by remote control.
Exempt sign shall mean a sign which is designated
in Title 18 as not subject to certain regulations in said title.
Flag shall mean a visual display device, with
or without copy, usually rectangular in shape and made of flexible
material, usually cloth, paper, or plastic.
Flat roof shall mean a roof which is horizontal
without a sloping, pitched, or mansard portion above.
Freestanding sign shall mean a sign supported
upon the ground and not attached to any building. Freestanding sign
shall include signs mounted on walls, which do not enclose any building.
Freeway building frontage shall mean a building
wall parallel or nearly parallel to a freeway.
Freeway lot frontage shall mean a property
line abutting a freeway right-of-way.
Freeway-oriented sign shall mean any sign whose
primary purpose, as determined by the City, is to identify the business
to motorists on the freeway.
Identification sign shall mean a sign whose
commercial copy is limited to the name, type of business, and the
address of the building, business, office, establishment, person,
or activity.
Illuminated sign shall mean a sign in which
a source of light is used in order to make readable the message or
attract attention to the sign. This definition shall include internally
and externally lighted signs and reflectorized, glowing, or radiating
signs.
Logo shall mean a trademark or symbol of an
organization.
Major identification sign shall mean an identification
sign facing the public street, streets or pedestrian paths providing
primary access to the premises identified by the sign.
Mansard roof shall mean a sloped roof or roof-like
facade above and architecturally comparable to a building wall.
Neon sign shall mean a sign which utilizes
neon or other gases within translucent tubing in or on any part of
the sign structure.
Off-premises sign shall mean a sign referring
to a person, establishment, merchandise, service, event, or entertainment
which is not located, sold, produced, manufactured, provided, or furnished
on the premises where the sign is located.
On-premises sign shall mean a sign referring
to a person, establishment, merchandise, service, event, or entertainment
which is located, sold, produced, manufactured, provided, or furnished
on the premises where the sign is located.
Outside corner shall mean that portion of a
building having both an exterior front and side wall adjacent to public
rights-of-way.
Parapet shall mean the extension of a false
front or building wall above a flat roof.
Pedestrian-oriented sign shall mean a small
sign readable primarily from the abutting sidewalk or other walkway
but not generally from the street.
Pennant shall mean a visual display device,
with or without copy, usually triangular in shape and made of flexible
material, usually cloth, paper, or plastic.
Planned sign program shall mean a plan providing
coordinated signing for a business or a contiguous group of businesses
and utilizing one or more common design elements such as colors, materials,
lettering, illumination, sign type, and sign shape.
Pitched or gabled roof shall mean a ridge roof
with sloping ends over the building walls.
Political sign shall mean a sign whose text
is limited to non-commercial speech, including speech pertaining to
a forthcoming public election.
Portable sign shall mean any sign designed
to be moved easily and which is not permanently affixed to either
the ground, a structure, or a building.
Poster shall mean a sign, temporary in nature
and usually on paper or cardboard, used to advertise a coming event
or attraction.
Real estate sign shall mean a sign indicating
that the premises on which the sign is located is for sale, lease,
or rent.
Secondary identification sign shall mean any
identification sign other than a major identification sign.
Sign shall mean any medium for visual communication,
including copy, structure, and component parts, which is used or intended
to be used to attract attention to, identify, or advertise an establishment,
product, service, activity or location, or to provide information.
Interior window displays of products sold on the premises shall not
be considered signs.
Sign copy shall mean any words, letters, numbers,
figures, designs, or other symbolic representations incorporated onto
the face of a sign.
Sign face shall mean the exterior surface of
a sign, exclusive of structural supports, on which is placed the sign
copy.
Sign height for building-mounted signs shall
mean the distance between the top of the sign and the average finish
grade directly beneath the sign.
Sign height for freestanding signs shall mean
the distance between the top of the sign and the top of curb of the
nearest street or the edge of pavement of such street where there
is no curb. However, in cases where the Director or Architectural
Commission determines that a freestanding sign is not oriented to
any particular street or is too far from such a street to reasonably
apply the foregoing standard, sign height shall be measured from the
average finish grade at the base of the sign.
Sign height for signs on walls shall mean the
distance between the top of the sign panel inserted into or placed
on the wall and the top of the curb of the nearest street or the edge
of pavement of such street where there is no curb.
If there is no sign panel, the height of the sign shall be measured from the top of the sign letters. If the Director determines that a freestanding sign is not oriented to any particular street or is too far from such a street to reasonably apply the foregoing standard, sign height shall be measured from the average finish grade at the base of the sign. (Refer to Section
18.005.020.)
Sign permit shall mean an entitlement from
the City to place or erect a sign.
Sign size or
sign area shall generally mean the entire area of the sign face, including non-structural perimeter trim but excluding structures or uprights on which the sign is supported. (Refer to Section
18.005.020 for complete description of how sign area shall be measured.)
Sign structure shall mean the structural supports,
uprights, and bracing for a sign.
Temporary sign shall mean a sign utilized to
identify a business or other activity for an interim period.
Under canopy sign shall mean a sign suspended
beneath a projecting canopy, walkway cover, awning, ceiling, or marquee.
Window sign shall mean any written representation,
emblem or other figure or similar character painted on or otherwise
affixed to a window and any interior sign within 5 feet of any window
and visible from off the subject building's site.
Walkway shall mean a sidewalk or other pathway
for pedestrians.
(08-05)