No sign shall be erected within the lines of a street right-of-way except traffic signs and similar regulatory notices of the Township, Allegheny County, or the state, except as herein provided.

No sign which emits smoke, visible vapors or particles, sound, or odor shall be permitted.

Any sign located along the right-of-way of a state or federal highway shall comply with any more restrictive requirements of the state or federal government relating thereto.

No sign shall be erected in the Township that:

Novelty signs, portable signs, including but not limited to objects (i.e., tires, automobiles, food products, etc.), pennants, banners, balloons, and animated signs are specifically prohibited in all zoning districts unless a temporary sign permit is obtained. Temporary permits will only be issued for special events as determined by the Township for periods of time acceptable to the Township.

Freestanding signs shall be supported by one or more columns or uprights which are permanently embedded in footers of accepted design. Exposed guy wires, chains, or other connections shall not be made a permanent support of the freestanding sign.

Signs where permitted shall be erected or placed in conformity with the side and rear yard requirements of the district in which located and signs located in any front yard shall have a setback of at least 10 feet from the road right-of-way; except no commercial sign shall be erected or placed closer than 50 feet to a side or rear lot line of any Residential District boundary.

Signs not permitted. Because of the propensity of certain types of signage to create visual pollution and distract the motoring public, billboards and off-premises signs not in compliance with the Pennsylvania Outdoor Advertising Act,[1] and portable changeable-letter signs are hereby prohibited in all zoning districts.

At the intersection of any state or federal highway with a collector street or roadway, the setback of any freestanding sign shall not be less than 100 feet from the established right-of-way of each highway or street.

No sign may extend above any parapet or be placed upon any roof surface. This subsection shall not apply to displays, including lighting, erected in connection with the observation of holidays on the roofs of residential structure.

No sign attached to a building may project outward more than 12 inches from the building wall.

All signs and all components thereof including, without limitation, supports, braces, and anchors, shall be kept in a state of good repair.

Sign permits shall be issued by the Zoning Officer, following receipt of a fee set by resolution by the Township Council, which shall accompany the sign permit application. Said application shall be a form provided by the Township and shall be submitted for review and approval prior to the commencement of any work related to the erection of alteration of the sign.

Each application for a sign permit shall be accompanied by a drawing to scale showing the design proposed, the size, character and color of letters, lines and symbols, method of illumination, location of electric service, the exact location of the sign in relation to the building and property, and details and specifications for construction.

No freestanding or attached sign shall be higher at any point than the maximum height of the roof of the principal structure or 25 feet, whichever is lower, except that no sign shall exceed any lesser height if particularly specified.

In commercial or manufacturing districts on parcels with a single use, one freestanding sign, and one building-mounted sign, shall be permitted.

The surface area of a sign shall be computed by including the entire area within a single, continuous, rectilinear perimeter of not more than eight straight lines, or a circle or an ellipse, enclosing the extreme limits of the writing, representation, emblem, or other display, together with any material or color forming an integral part of the background of the display or used to differentiate the sign from the backdrop or structure against which it is placed, but not including any supporting framework or bracing that is clearly incidental to the display itself.

If the sign consists of more than one section or module, all of the area, including that area between sections or modules, shall be included in the computation of the total sign area.

No person may, for the purpose of increasing or enhancing the visibility of any sign, damage, trim, destroy, or remove any trees, shrubs, or other vegetation located, within the right-of-way of any public street, road, or buffer yard unless the work is done pursuant to the express written authorization of the Township or other agency having jurisdiction over the streets or roadways.

The following temporary signs are permitted without a permit. However, such signs shall conform to the requirements set forth below as well as all other applicable requirements of this article.

The following signs are exempt from regulation under this article unless more specific provisions contained in this section indicate otherwise:

For the purpose of determining the number of signs, a sign shall be considered to be a single display surface or display device containing elements organized, related, and composed to form a unit.

A two-sided or multisided sign shall be regarded as one sign so long as:

In the case of a lot occupied or intended to be occupied by multiple business enterprises, the following shall apply:

No wall-mounted business sign on single or multiple-use sites shall exceed 24 square feet or 10% of the face of the structure upon which it is attached or painted, whichever is less, except as otherwise indicated.

No freestanding identification sign on single use sites in the C Commercial or SM Suburban Manufacturing Districts shall exceed a maximum of 30 square feet.

To encourage design excellence, the maximum sign area for commercial businesses and manufacturing uses may be increased by the percentages herein. A separate bonus may be granted for compliance with each of the criteria and the area is cumulative, but the percentage is based on the original sign area. In no instance shall the bonus increase in sign area exceed 20% of the area permitted absent the bonus.

All applications for bonus sign area shall be considered as conditional uses pursuant to the procedures of § 455-14.24 and subject to the specific requirements below. The Planning Commission shall review all sign applications which include bonus sign area criteria and make recommendation to Council. Completed applications shall be reviewed at regularly scheduled Planning Commission meetings.

The size of any such sign shall not exceed 12 square feet.

Not more than one such sign is placed on any premises held in single and separate ownership or developed as a unit, unless such property fronts upon more than one street; in which event, one such sign may be erected on each frontage.

Said signs may only be located on the premises that they identify.

Such sign shall be placed in a landscaped area.

Residential identification signs shall employ only shielded spotlights, have no internal illumination, or neon lighting.

Unless otherwise prohibited by this article, signs may be illuminated if such illumination is in accordance with this section.

No sign erected in conjunction with a commercial business which is located within 150 feet of a residential district zoning boundary shall be illuminated between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m., unless the business operates 24 hours a day and is open to the public.

Lighting directed toward a sign shall be shielded so that it illuminates only the face of the sign and does not shine directly into a public right-of-way or residential premises.

Where permissible, illuminated freestanding signs may not be illuminated during hours that the business or enterprise advertised by such sign is not open for business or in operation. This subsection shall not apply to signs that constitute an integral part of a vending machine, telephone booth, device that only indicates the time, date, or weather conditions, or similar device whose principal function is not to convey an advertising message.

Internally illuminated signs shall be designed and constructed so that no light is directed toward a public right-of-way or residential premises.

Neon signs shall not exceed 5% of window area, and shall be limited to one sign per business. Nonflashing interior neon signs visible from the exterior of the premises shall not exceed 10 square feet.

No sign may contain or be illuminated by flashing or intermittent lights or lights of changing degrees of intensity, no sign may be digital or have scrolling text, except those portions of a sign indicating the time, date or weather conditions.

Removal. The Zoning Officer may order the removal of any sign erected or maintained in violation of this article. The Zoning Officer shall give 30 days' notice in writing to the owner of such signs, or of the building, structure or premises on which such sign is located, by certified mail, to remove the sign or to bring it into compliance. Upon failure to comply with this notice, the Zoning Officer or duly authorized representative may remove the sign at cost to the owner. The Zoning Officer may remove a sign immediately and without notice, at cost to the owner, if, in their opinion, the condition or location of the sign is such as to present an immediate threat to the safety of the public.

Abandonment. A sign shall be removed by the owner or lessee of the premises upon which the sign is located when the business which it advertises is no longer conducted on the premises. If the owner or lessee fails to remove it within 90 days, the Zoning Officer shall give the owner 30 days' written notice to remove it. Upon failure to comply with this notice, the Zoning Officer or their duly authorized representative may remove the sign at cost to the owner. Where a successor to a defunct business agrees to maintain the signs as provided in this article, abandonment shall not apply.

If a legal nonconforming sign advertises a business, service, commodity, accommodation, attraction, or other enterprise or activity that is no longer operating or being offered or conducted, that sign shall be considered abandoned and shall be removed within 90 days after such abandonment.

Subject to the remaining restrictions of this section, legal nonconforming signs that were otherwise lawful on the effective date of this section may be continued until they are required to be removed by the provisions of this article.

No person may engage in any activity that causes an increase in the extent of nonconformity of a legal nonconforming sign. No nonconforming sign may be enlarged or altered in such a manner as to aggravate the nonconforming condition. Nor may illumination be added to any legal nonconforming sign.

A legal nonconforming sign may not be moved or replaced except to bring the sign into complete conformity with this article.

If a legal nonconforming sign is destroyed by natural causes, it may not thereafter be repaired, reconstructed or replaced except in conformity with all the provisions of this article, and the remnants of the former sign structure shall be cleared from the land. For purposes of this section, a nonconforming sign is "destroyed" if damaged to an extent that the cost of repairing the sign to its former stature or replacing it with an equivalent sign equals or exceeds the value of the sign at the time it is damaged.

The message of a legal nonconforming sign may be changed so long as this does not create any new nonconformities by creating circumstances where such a sign would not be allowed.

Subject to the other provisions of this section, legal nonconforming signs may be repaired and renovated so long as the cost of such work does not exceed within any twelve-month period 50% of the current value of such sign.