Particular terms are defined for the purposes of this article, as follows:

Abandoned sign means a sign which no longer correctly identifies or advertises a bona fide business, lessor, service, owner, product, or activity on the premises where the sign is displayed.

Animated sign means a sign that includes any action or motion. For the purposes of this article, this term does not refer to flashing signs or to electronic changeable copy, both of which are separately defined.

Banner means a temporary sign applied to cloth, paper, vinyl, fabric, plastic or like malleable material, with or without frame.

Billboard sign means any off-premises sign other than a bus shelter sign or church or civic club off-premises sign.

Bus shelter sign means an off-premises sign erected on a public bus shelter.

Business sign means an on-premises sign located where the primary use of the premises is commercial, industrial, or professional, including parking areas that are accessory to such uses.

Building sign means a sign connected to and supported solely by a building, canopy, marquee, or awning.

Church off-premises sign means an off-premises sign erected by a religious organization to direct the public to church-related activities.

Civic club off-premises sign means an off-premises sign erected by any nationally, regionally or locally known non-profit organization(s) to announce the presence of organizational chapters and activities within the community.

Consolidated shopping center sign means a sign constructed for shared use by shopping center tenants, whether tenants are located on common property or on individual lots within an approved development. A consolidated shopping center sign complying with specific requirements of this section shall not be considered an off-premise sign.

Construction sign means a temporary sign that contains a message relating to construction work in progress or upcoming on the premises where the sign is displayed.

Copy means any word, letter, number or emblem that is a feature of a sign.

Electrical sign means a sign or sign structure in which electrical wiring, connections, or fixtures are used.

Electronic changeable copy means copy that is changed by electronic or electrical control of a bank of light-emitting, light-reflecting, or light-silhouetting copy elements.

Erect means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, create, paint, draw or in any way bring into being or establish.

Facade means the entire building front including walls, windows, gables, parapets, and mansards.

Farm sign means an on-premises sign located on property ten (10) acres or more in area used for agricultural purposes. Such property less than ten (10) acres in area shall be considered a residential use if it contains any dwelling units, and vacant land if it does not (see definition of residence sign).

Federal aid primary highway (Owensboro, Whitesville) means any highway, road, street, bridge, overpass, etc. which is designated a portion of the federal aid primary highway system as may be established by law or so designated by the state and federal departments of transportation.

(Unincorporated Daviess County) Refer to "state-sign-controlled highway."

Flashing sign means any illuminated sign, electronic changeable copy, or any other illuminated device, whose lighting fluctuates, alternates, or otherwise varies in brightness, pattern, position or reflection, in order to attract attention or to phase copy changes in or out. Such a sign, copy, or other device is not a flashing sign if its lighting varies in brightness, pattern, position or reflection only instantaneously and concurrently on the entire sign at five (5) minute minimum intervals.

Identifiable (Unincorporated Daviess County only) means capable of being related to a particular product, service, business or other activity even though there is no written message to aid in establishing the relationship.

Illegal sign means a sign that does not meet the requirements of this article and which is not (legally) nonconforming; or a sign advertising an activity that is illegal under federal, state or local law.

Illuminated sign means a sign with an artificial light source incorporated internally or externally for the primary purpose of illuminating the sign.

Institution sign means an on-premises sign located where the primary use of the premises is institutional, including parking areas that are accessory to such uses.

Legible means capable of being read without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity, or conveying an advertising message to a person of normal visual acuity.

Manual changeable copy means copy that is changed in the field by manual relocation of easily removable copy elements.

Nonconforming sign means a sign that was erected legally but which does not comply with the adopted sign regulations of this article for the zone in which it is located; also referred to as a legal nonconforming sign.

Off-premises sign means a sign that contains a message that does not relate to any activity or product on the premises where the sign is displayed; or a sign erected by a company or individual for the purpose of selling advertising messages for profit.

On-premises sign means a sign that attracts attention to or contains a message relating to an occupant, activity, or product on the premises where the sign is displayed.

Permanent sign means a sign constructed and intended for long-term use in a fixed location.

Place sign means an on-premises sign located at a principal street entrance serving a group of ten (10) or more lots in one subdivision or located on a premises containing a minimum of twenty four (24) dwelling units.

Political sign means a temporary sign that contains a message supporting the candidacy for office or urging action on matters on the ballot of an upcoming election or referendum. For the purposes of this article, political signs shall be considered on-premises signs.

Portable sign means a temporary sign that is affixed to a frame, which is designed to be moved easily and to be self-supporting when resting on a generally horizontal surface. For the purposes of this article, the temporary securing of such a sign to the ground, to a building or to any other structure shall not prevent its being considered a portable sign.

Premises means an area of land together with its buildings and other appurtenances which, because of its unity of use, may be regarded as the smallest conveyable unit of real estate.

Public service message means a message pertaining to an activity or service which is performed for the benefit of the public and not for profit or gain of a particular person, firm or corporation or information such as time or temperature.

Real estate sign means a temporary sign that contains a message relating to the sale, rental or lease of the premises where the sign is located, or relating to the original sale of property in a new subdivision.

Residence sign means an on-premises sign located where the primary use of the property is residential, including home occupations, bed and breakfast homes, and parking areas that are accessory to residential uses. This term does not refer to signs on agricultural property ten (10) acres or more in area (see definition of farm sign).

Roof line means the top edge of the roof or the top of the parapet or mansard, whichever forms the top line of the building silhouette, excluding domes, spires, chimneys, masts, elevator penthouses and other incidental projections.

Sign means any device that is sufficiently visible to persons not located on the lot where such device is located to accomplish either of the following objectives: to attract the attention of such persons or to communicate message(s) to them. Where one (1) or more display modules are connected to the same structural supports, the entire assemblage of modules and supports shall be considered one (1) sign.

Sign area

(1)

Sign area 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 copy 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.

(2)

If the sign consists of more than one section or module, all of the area, including that between sections or modules, shall be included in the computation of the sign area. Temporary signs attached to a permanent sign structure shall not be included in the total sign area of the permanent sign structure.

(3)

With respect to two-sided, multi-sided, or three-dimensional signs, the sign area shall include the total of all sides designed to attract attention or communicate information that can be seen at any one time by a person from one vantage point. Without otherwise limiting the generality of the foregoing, the sign area of a double-faced, back-to-back or V-shaped sign shall equal the area of only one side of such sign, the larger side, so long as the angle between the backs of the two sides does not exceed forty-five (45) degrees.

Sign face means a generally vertical area of a sign on which copy is typically placed.

Sign height means the vertical distance measured from the highest point of the sign, including the frame and any embellishments, and the established grade at the nearest adjacent street frontage, except as otherwise specified in this article.

State-sign-controlled highway means any highway, road, street, bridge, or overpass that is designated to be included in the Federal Aid Primary, Parkway, Interstate, National Highway, or Scenic Highway/Byway system by the state or federal department of transportation.

Streamer means a temporary sign made of a string of ribbons, tinsel, pennants, pinwheels, or similar devices used to attract attention to the premises where it is displayed.

Temporary sign means a sign that is not constructed or intended for long-term use in a fixed location, including, but not limited to, banners, posters, balloons, other inflatable devices, streamers, and portable, construction, political, and real estate signs.

Urban areas means those areas which the state secretary of transportation, in the exercise of his sound discretion and upon consideration being given to the population within boundaries of an area and to the traveling public determines by official order to be urban; provided, however, that any such determination or designation of the secretary shall not, in any way, be at variance with the federal law or regulation thereunder or jeopardize the allotment or qualification for federal-aid funds of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Visible means capable of being seen, whether or not legible or identifiable, without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity and erected for the purpose of being seen from the portion of a roadway dedicated to the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders. This definition is not intended to preclude the location of a billboard sign along an intersecting or adjacent roadway that is erected for the primary purpose of being seen from the intersecting or adjacent roadway rather than from the subject roadway, unless otherwise specified in this article or by other government regulatory authority.

Wall means a vertical plane of a building below any eaves, cornices, mansards or parapets.

Yard sign means a sign supported upon the ground or attached to a pole or other structure and is independent of support from any building, canopy, marquee, or awning.

(Ord. No. 37-2009, § 2, 10-20-2009)