[Adopted 5-5-1997 ATM Art. 53]
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 67]
The purpose of this article is to provide for
public safety and promote the general health and welfare of the inhabitants
of the Town of Boothbay Harbor. This article will preserve the natural
resources, the beauty of the Town, its countryside, economic attractions
and the community as a whole.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
ADVERTISING SIGN
Any sign, that conveys a message promoting a product, occupation,
service, goods or event conducted or dispensed at a location.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
AWNING SIGNS
A sign painted or otherwise made into or on a cloth, canvas
or plastic window, covering awning or shade.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
BANNERS
Excluding awning signs, any type of sign constructed of or
on cloth, canvas, plastic, vinyl, or any other similar material that
conveys a message or advertisement.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
BILLBOARD
Any sign, structure, building or other surface, or combination
thereof, used for advertising purposes exceeding the maximum size
sign for the district the sign is in.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
BUILDING FACE
The surface area of any side or any end of a building, including
any surface area from the roof edges down to the ground or the surface
of a dock, including trim or the area of a facade, or any deck and
porch railings.
[Amended 5-6-2002 by ATM Art. 20; 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
BUSINESS SIGN
Any sign or trademark attached or otherwise, that directs
attention to and/or announces a place of business, service, or home
occupation. It is not the intent of this definition to override the
definition of an identification sign.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
CLUSTER SIGN
Any group or collection of business or advertising signs
installed or mounted in a single location.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
DIRECTIONAL SIGN
Any sign or device that directs the public to a particular
location or event.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
FREESTANDING
Any sign not mounted or attached to a building, structure,
craft or vehicle. Freestanding shall include a sign supported by a
post mounted in the ground or having leg(s) or a type of platform
or brace that cause the sign to remain in position.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
IDENTIFICATION SIGN
A sign identifying the occupant's or individual's name and/or
title.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
LOCATION SIGN
Any sign identifying a development, association, residential
properties, estate, church or institution.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
MAJOR
Any change affecting 50% or greater of the surface area of
a sign.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
MARQUES
Any sign designed or constructed to allow the message, letters,
or symbols to be easily changed.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
MISCELLANEOUS SIGNS
Any sign commonly mass produced or commonly bought in retail
stores, such as but not limited to hunting, trespassing, rent or lease,
and for sale signs.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
PERPENDICULAR SIGNS
Any sign mounted opposite or perpendicular to or at right
angles to the face of the building.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
POLITICAL SIGN
Any sign promoting a candidate or political party for public
office or a sign containing a political message.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
PORTABLE SIGN
Any sign designed, constructed or erected and not permanently
fixed to the ground or a structure.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
PROJECT SIGN
Those signs which are typical of a contractor's identification
sign or a town, state or federal project sign that advertises or conveys
construction or development information.
REAL ESTATE SIGN
A sign advertising the sale or lease of premises, land or
building by the owner or licensed real estate business.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
SIGN
A sign shall be an area or part of any device, picture, word,
letter or drawing placed on, in, attached to or made a part thereof;
but is not limited to a post, frame, structure, boat, watercraft or
vehicle, representative of, or with any intent of, which displays
or includes any lettering, wording, model, drawing, picture, banner,
flag, insignia, device, marking (including structures painted using
fluorescent or glow colors) or any other representation used which
is in nature or design an announcement, gives or states a direction
or is an advertisement of a place or event or in any other way a visual
or verbal means of directing one's attention to someone or something.
It is not the intent of this definition to limit the customary marking
or business name displayed on a vehicle in normal use. It is not the
intent of this definition to include weather vanes or declarative
designs in stain glass windows. No person shall place, mark or in
any other way place or attach a sign to a vehicle or trailer continuously
parked in or about a location with the intent to circumvent the requirements
of this code.
SIGN AREA
The area within the longest horizontal and vertical span
of a sign that can be drawn across the outside perimeter of a sign,
excluding protective covering or base, provided that they are not
used for advertising purposes. Exterior protrusions, symbols or other
visual shapes greater than four inches may be calculated separately
and added to the total sign area and type. Signs of the same type
facing in the opposite directions (i.e., signs mounted back to back
or double-sided) will be calculated using the larger of a single side.
Signs created by using individual letters mounted to a building face
shall be calculated using the average letter size of the word. It
shall be permissible to consider a three-percent design tolerance
acceptable when calculating the area of a sign.
WATERFRONT SIGN
Any sign mounted so as to be readable from a watercraft and
mounted in an area within 50 feet of the high water mark or out over
the waters of the harbor. Signs mounted on the side of a building
within this area shall be considered waterfront signs. However, only
one end of a building, structure or sign and one side of a building,
structure or sign may be considered or interpreted as "waterfront"
when calculating signage.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 68]
WINDOW SIGN
Any sign placed or located that is visible in, on or through
a door or window that promotes a business, service or product.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 69]
Unless otherwise noted, all signs within the
limits of Boothbay Harbor must comply with a district standard first;
if no district standard, the general standards shall apply. Prior
to erecting a sign, a permit approving sign design, placement and
illumination must be obtained from the Code Enforcement Officer.
A. Advertising signs. Advertising signs shall be located
on the property used by the business offering the product or service.
Unless otherwise noted, advertising signs will be limited to a maximum
of six square feet in sign area per sign and no more than three signs
per business.
B. Architectural harmony. Signs shall exhibit architectural
harmony and shall be constructed or laid out so as to not dominate
or obstruct other signs in the area.
C. Awning signs. Awning signs may be in addition to other
signs; however, they may not project from the awning. Awning graphics
or wording may be painted or affixed flat to the surface of the front
or sides and may indicate only the name of the business or premises.
Awning signs may not exceed the width of a window or combination of
windows or doors. The actual wording, size or combination of letters
cannot exceed the allowable sign area for that district.
D. A permit must be obtained from the Code Enforcement
Officer for the placement of all banners. An application of a banner
to be placed over a public way must provide documentation of insurance
satisfactory to the Town, naming the Town as additional insured. The
erection or placement of a banner shall be limited to a period not
to exceed 30 days. Banners draped around a deck or porch may not exceed
the height of the railing. For reasons stated, the Code Enforcement
Officer shall have the authority to restrict the placement and size
of any banner.
[Amended 5-3-1999 by ATM Art. 51;5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 70]
E. Billboards. Billboards are prohibited within the limits
of Boothbay Harbor.
F. Business signs. Each business may have one business
sign per business attached to its place of business, per street front.
The sign may be perpendicular to the building and may be double-sided,
provided that it does not project more than six feet from the building.
Where there are more than two businesses in one building and that
building is set back greater than 50 feet from a traveled way, said
businesses may have a sign on the street front side of the building
and may have a congregate sign of the permitted size at the street.
Unless otherwise noted, all business signs are to be limited to six
square feet in sign area. A sign must be placed so that its bottom
edge is a minimum of 14 feet above any vehicle way and eight feet
above any pedestrian way.
[Amended 5-3-1999 by ATM Art. 52]
G. Cluster signs. The use of cluster signs will be limited to the Meadow
Business District, Downtown Business Districts, the Limited Commercial/Maritime
and Working Waterfront Districts and when there is more than one business
on a lot or in a single building. These signs will be or are limited
to one location sign per business and one business or identification
sign per business, double-sided allowed. The total area of all business
signs in the group may not exceed the total sign area for the district
the sign is located in. The landlord will be responsible for allocating
sign area or space among the tenants. The layout of the individual
signs shall be neat and uniform in size, design and color.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 71; 5-3-2019 by ATM Art. 3]
H. Directional signs. See Article
II, Business Directional Signs, of this chapter.
I. Freestanding. Except for political signs, freestanding
signs must be erected on the owner's property.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 72]
J. Fees. With each sign permit application, there shall be a nonrefundable fee of the minimum fee, or the per-square-foot fee, paid per sign, as set by the Town Fee Schedule, pursuant to the Code of Boothbay Harbor, §
2-7B.
[Added 5-5-2012 by ATM Art. 26]
K. Height of sign. No sign may be mounted on the roof
of a building or extend above the height of the roof of an adjacent
building or structure. (In the case of where a facade extends above
a roof, the sign may extend to the top of the facade but not above.)
Unless otherwise noted, no part of a freestanding sign or its supports
may extend more than 18 feet above the ground. Any sign or support
extending over a pedestrian way must maintain a minimum of eight feet
of clearance above the pedestrian way. Any sign or support thereof
extending over a way utilized by vehicles must maintain a minimum
of 14 feet of clearance above the vehicle way.
L. Identification signs. These signs may not be any larger
than is needed to identify the occupant's name and any title using
letters no larger than three inches in height.
M. Illumination. Unless otherwise noted or permitted
in the district requirements, only fully shielded (to control the
area of illumination), external, indirect or nonglaring lighting shall
be permitted in all districts. The following signs are prohibited:
internally lit signs, neon lights, kinetic or moving signs, whirligigs,
streamers and rotating or flashing signs.
N. Language or wording. The construction, wording, marking
or placement of words or designs on or in a sign may not be arranged
or marked so they can be interpreted to mean, spell or indicate a
word, profanity or phrase that is contrary or objectionable to the
public.
[Amended 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 73]
O. Location signs. Unless otherwise permitted, a location
sign can be no larger than is 16 square feet.
P. Maintenance of signs. Any or all signs are to be maintained
in a nonfaded, readable condition, providing a neat and orderly appearance.
Q. Nonconforming signs. Any or all signs found to be
an imminent safety hazard will be removed by the owner or the owner's
agent and at the owner's expense upon knowledge of the hazard. If
the owner or an agent is not immediately available, any law officer
or code enforcement officer may cause such hazard to be removed or
corrected at the owner's expense. Notice: Any and all existing signs
made nonconforming by the adoption of this code must be removed within
five years of the adoption of this code.
R. Permit required. Except for real estate signs and
temporary window signs, a sign permit shall be required from the Code
Enforcement Officer before a sign is placed, erected or altered in
the Town of Boothbay Harbor. The Code Enforcement Officer will review
all submissions for compliance with the requirements of the town's
codes. The Code Enforcement Officer shall forward all new and major
alterations for cluster or congregate signs, project, development
and locations signs to the Planning Board for review of compliance
with this code before the Code Enforcement Officer may issue the permit.
All submissions shall have a scaled drawing(s) no smaller than 1/2
inch equals one foot zero inches (preferably one foot equals one foot
zero inches). The drawing shall show a front and rear view, cross
section, type of materials, an indication of colors and include any
molding or detailing. The drawings must show the proposed location
of the sign, method of attachment and method and placement of illumination.
The applicant shall consider the historical references to locations
in the community while planning development signage.
[Amended 5-3-1999 by ATM Art. 53; 5-2-2005 by ATM Art. 74]
S. Perpendicular signs. Perpendicular signs may not exceed
16 square feet in size. All perpendicular signs must be held in place
or mounted using metal support brackets. All bracket connections must
either be welded or use self-locking fasteners. One perpendicular
business, advertising or location sign may be installed in addition
to the allotted freestanding or building signage.
T. Placement or location of signs. All signs must be
placed on the owner's, tenant's or lessee's property. Signs may not
be painted on the roof or side walls of any building. Signs may not
extend beyond the edge of a building face in any direction except
that a sign may be mounted on a facade, deck or ornamental railing.
Signs may be hung from an overhang of the building. Perpendicular
signs may not extend more than 6 feet from a building. Signs shall
not be mounted on any roof surface with a slope of less than 45°
or a 12/12 pitch. Signs shall not be mounted to cover any molding
or building detailing, except the signs may be mounted on or within
a building frieze board. Signs may not be placed in or on a vehicle
or trailer in an attempt to circumvent the requirements of this code.
Signs may not be placed so as to obstruct the flow or view of vehicular
traffic. Signs may not obstruct a pedestrianway or their view of a
roadway. Caution shall be taken when adding signage not to obstruct
another sign. Except for the typical homeowner's trespassing and hunting
signs, signs may not be mounted to or painted on any trees, utility
poles or any natural feature. Unless otherwise noted, there shall
be no off-premises advertising or business signs.
[Amended 5-3-2004 by ATM Art. 70]
U. Political signs. A political sign is permitted in
any district, provided that it does not exceed the maximum allowable
size for that district. Signs may not be placed so as to obstruct
a public way or to cause a hazard to vehicular traffic. Political
signs may not be installed on public lands more than 60 days prior
to an election or event for which it is intended and shall be removed
within seven days following the same election or event. Any person,
organization or party placing a political sign on, in or over public
land in or over a public way must first present to the Town Office
identification of a person responsible for managing such sign(s).
V. Portable and seasonal signs. Portable signs intended
for use on a regular or seasonal basis, may be permitted by the Code
Enforcement Officer provided they meet the following standards:
[Amended 5-3-2004 by ATM Art. 71]
(1) Seasonal use:
(a)
Portable signs can only be used or permitted
in a business district or a property having a permitted home occupation
or professional use.
(b)
Portable signs may not exceed eight square feet
or the footage allowed in that district, whichever is less in size.
Other district standards still apply.
(c)
Portable signs cannot be on or in or over a
public way and must be setback a minimum four feet from a vehicle
way and two-foot from a pedestrianway.
(d)
Portable signs must be weighted or secured to
stay in place.
(2) Single event (including small banners intended for
a special event or one time use):
(a)
May not exceed eight feet in length or height
and cannot exceed 12 square feet in size, or the footage allowed in
that district, whichever is less in size. Other district standards
still apply.
(b)
Cannot be installed more than 14 days prior
to the event, and must be removed within 36 hours after the event.
(c)
May not be placed within or over a public way.
(d)
The Code Enforcement Officer shall have the
authority to place conditions of approval on the placement and size
of single-event signs consistent with the standards.
W. Project signs. All project signs must comply with
any or all signage requirements. Contractor signs cannot conflict
with the intent of a directional sign, contractor signs cannot exceed
the allowable size and cannot advertise another location such as the
contractor's business street address. City or town, phone numbers
and an explanation of the contractor's expertise are permissible.
X. Public safety signs. Signs placed by public agencies
relating to public safety and traffic control signs or devices are
permitted in all districts without restrictions.
Y. Real estate signs. Real estate signs may not be more
than six square feet in area. They may not be illuminated. There may
be no more than one sign per broker (double-sided accepted) on any
subject lot or property, per street or road frontage.
Z. Window signs. Window signs may not exceed more than
50% of the glass area.
In all cases, a party aggrieved by a decision of the enforcing offices, said party may file an appeal to the Board of Appeals within 30 days of the action complained of. The request for an appeal shall be filed with the Code Enforcement Officer. The appeals process shall be as prescribed in Chapter
170, Article XV, Section 109 of the Codes. It is not intended that the appeals process involving signs that cause a hazard to public safety delay or stay the removal requirement. The hazard must be removed while the appeal is being filed or is in process.
[Adopted 3-7-1983 by ATM Art. 58 (Art. 25 of the 1958 Ordinances)]
This article is adopted for the regulation and
restriction of business directional signs within the Town on public
ways or on private property within view of a public way, in order
to promote the safety, comfort and well-being of the users of public
ways, both vehicular and pedestrian; to reduce distractions and traffic
congestion; and to preserve or enhance the natural scenic beauty and
other aesthetic features of town.
All business directional signs erected or in
place after June 1, 1983, shall meet the following specifications:
A. The size shall be 36 inches long by six inches wide.
B. The lettering shall be three and three-eighths (33/8)
inches high, three-eighths (3/8) inches wide, helvetica type.
C. The base shall be one-half-inch plywood overlay.
D. The color shall be dark green Signpainters Lettering
Enamel in accordance with National Outdoor Advertising standards.
E. Paint. Green color is to be applied to all sides and
edges of base (three coats) and used also for lettering.
F. Visibility. A four-and-five-eighths-inch wide reflectorized
sheet (white) is to be used for the lettering background. This sheet
will be tapered two and one-half (21/2) inches from the appropriate
end to form the arrow at the left or right end where appropriate.
[Amended 5-1-1995 by ATM Art. 63])
Any violation of this article shall constitute a nuisance. Any person, firm or corporation having control or use of any buildings or premises who or which violates any provisions hereof, shall be fined as set forth in Chapter
1, General Provisions, Article
II, General Penalty, for each day such violation is permitted to exist after notification. All fines collected hereunder shall inure to the town.