Rochester City Zoning Code
35-172 MEASURING
SIGNS.
A. In calculating the area of a sign to determine whether it meets the requirements of this Chapter, the Zoning Administrator will include the sign copy and any border or frame surrounding that copy. Customary supporting members of a sign will be excluded from the area calculation. The area of irregularly-shaped signs or of signs containing two or more detached elements will be determined by the area of the smallest circle, square, triangle, rectangle, or combination thereof, that will encompass all elements of the sign. Where individual letters, words, emblems, symbols, etc. are affixed to a building, a rectangle around the entire phrase or sentence will be measured to compute the sign area. Where the sign background is made a different color from the building such as by painting, the area of different color will be measured. Back-to-back, side-by-side, bottom-on-top, and V-shaped signs constitute one sign.
B. Spherical, free-form, sculptural, or other non-planar sign area is 50 percent of the sum of the areas using only the four vertical sides of the smallest four-sided polyhedron that will encompass the sign structure. Signs with more than four faces are prohibited.
C. The sign height shall be computed as the distance from the base of the sign or structure to which it is attached at normal grade to the top of the highest attached component of the sign. Normal grade shall be construed to be the lower of:
1. Existing grade prior to construction; or
2. The newly established grade after construction, exclusive of any filling, berming, mounding, or excavating solely for the purpose of elevating the sign. In cases in which the normal grade cannot reasonably be determined, sign height shall be computed on the assumption that the elevation of the normal grade at the base of the sign is equal to the elevation of the nearest point of the crown of a street or the grade of the principal pedestrian entrance to the principal structure on the site, whichever is lower.