For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

BILLBOARD. See definition of SIGN, OFF-PREMISE.

BUILDING. Any structure erected for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or moveable property of any kind.

DYNAMIC DISPLAY. Any characteristics of a sign that appear to have movement or that appear to change, caused by any method other than physically removing and replacing the sign or its components, whether the apparent movement or change is in the display, the sign structure itself, or any other component of the sign. This includes a display that incorporates a technology or method allowing the sign face to change the image without having to physically or mechanically replace the sign face or its components. This also includes any rotating, revolving, moving, flashing, blinking, or animated display and any display that incorporates rotating panels, LED lights manipulated through digital input, "digital ink" or any other method or technology that allows the sign face to present a series of images or displays.

SIGN. Any publicly displayed, message-bearing device for visual communication or any attention- attracting device that is used primarily for the purpose of bringing the subject thereto to the attention of the public.

SIGN APPARATUS. The structure upon which any sign is actually placed or erected.

SIGN, DIRECTIONAL. A sign, the primary function of which is to provide locational directions.

SIGN, FLASHING. Any illuminated or luminous sign on which the artificial light or color is not maintained at a constant intensity or color when the sign is in use except for that portion of a sign providing public service information such as time, weather, date, temperature, or similar information. A FLASHING SIGN is one that is programmed to flash in either text or graphic more frequently than every three seconds.

SIGN, FREE-STANDING. A sign which is not attached to any part of a building and which is rather supported by upright braces or posts placed in the ground.

SIGN, ILLUMINATED. Any sign upon which artificial light is directed.

SIGN, LUMINOUS. Any sign which has its own self-generated light.

SIGN, NON-COMMERCIAL. A sign which does not advertise products, goods, businesses, or services and which expresses an opinion or other point of view.

SIGN, OFF-PREMISE. A sign located off the premises where the advertised product, service, merchandise, or message is located, manufactured, sold, offered, distributed, or made available to the public.

SIGN, PORTABLE. A sign so designed as to be moveable from one location to another and not permanently attached to the ground or any immobile structure. A PORTABLE SIGN may consist of a mobile structure such as a semi-truck trailer or other device whose primary function during a specific time period is to serve as a sign structure.

SIGN, PROJECTING. A sign which is affixed to the wall of a building and extends outward from the building.

SIGN, TEMPORARY. A sign which is erected or displayed for a limited period of time. This includes items such as banners, pennants, flags of other than a political jurisdiction, beacons, sandwich or curb signs, balloons or other air or gas filled figures.

SIGN, WINDOW. A sign which is painted upon the glass portions of doors and windows of a business or is a sign placed within the door or window of a business.

1. No sign which may lawfully be erected in the city shall be erected, re-erected, maintained, posted, displayed, or altered unless a permit for each sign has been obtained. Applications for a sign permit shall be made in writing upon forms provided by the City Administrator, Clerk/Treasurer. In addition to the information required by the application, applicants may be required to provide plans, specifications, and drawings to scale showing the sign itself, projections, setbacks, sign area, sign type, sign structure, a description of the building or premises to which the sign is to be attached or located, and any other relevant information required by the Administrator, Clerk/Treasurer. Permits shall be valid for the calendar year or part thereof for which they have been issued. Permits are non-transferable.
   1. The original construction fee, per sign facing, shall be determined as follows, with amounts set from time to time by Council resolution:
      1. Forty square feet or less in area; or
      2. Greater than 40 square feet in area.
   2. In addition, the annual fee for each permit for an off-premises sign shall be as set from time to time by Council resolution.
2. If a sign has been erected before the effective date of this title and it conforms nonetheless to the terms of this title, a permit is required for all such signs according to the terms of this section. If a sign has been erected before the effective date of this title and does not conform to the terms of this title, the owner or lessee of the sign or the premises upon which it is located must apply for a permit declaring the sign to be a legal non-conforming sign which shall permit the temporary existence of the sign according to the terms of this title. The fee for a legal non-conforming sign permit is set from time to time by Council resolution, and the permit shall be valid for the calendar year or part thereof for which it has been issued. Non-conforming sign permits are non-transferable.

1. The City Council may grant a permit for the erection, re-erection, maintenance, display, or posting of a permanent sign which meets the terms and conditions of this title and is in harmony with the requirements of other city ordinances.
2. The City Administrator, Clerk/Treasurer and Building Official may grant a permit for the erection, re-erection, maintenance, display, or posting of a temporary sign which meets the terms and conditions of this title and is in harmony with the requirements of other city ordinances.
3. The City Council may suspend or revoke a sign permit because of, but not limited to, a violation of the terms of this title, failure to observe the terms of this title, violation of or failure to observe the terms of other applicable and relevant city ordinances, any fraud obtained in the acquisition of a permit, and other grounds which the Council may, from time to time, determine.

In order for an applicant to receive and retain a permit for a sign, the following conditions must be met and maintained.

1. When a sign is illuminated or luminous, any illumination therefrom, or a beam of light directed thereon, shall not shine directly upon any residence or onto any public streets.
2. No sign structure shall contain more than four exposed beams.
3. No projecting sign shall extend more than 16 inches from any building wall nor more than six feet above the roof line.
4. No sign or sign structure may remain erected unless it is erected, maintained, and repaired in accordance with the Uniform Building Code, State Electrical Code, and the general construction requirements of the city. All signs must remain in good repair and in safe condition.
5. No part of any sign shall project over or beyond the property line of the property upon which it is located.
6. The following setback, distance, and other requirements shall be observed:
   1. Any sign displayed on the premises where the advertised message, service, merchandise, or product is made, sold, distributed, or offered shall not be closer to a public right-of-way than three feet nor closer than five feet from any other property line;
   2. Any sign displayed off the premises where the advertised message, service, merchandise, or product is made, sold, distributed, or offered shall not be closer than 30 feet to a front yard property line or public right-of-way. In addition, the sign shall not be closer than five feet to the side property lines and back property lines of the property;
   3. Off-premises directional signs may be erected without conforming with the requirements of Paragraphs F,2 and H as long as the directional signs do not exceed 32 square feet in size and as long as the sign does not violate any of the terms contained in SLPC 16.24.060;
   4. The minimum setback from any intersection for off-premises signs shall be 500 feet;
   5. No off-premises sign or structure shall be located within 500 feet of a residential district, park, playground, school, governmental building, or building used for religious purposes;
   6. An off-premises sign or structure shall be considered the principal use of a site. If another use or structure is added to the site, the off-premises sign must be removed; and
   7. Off-premises signs or structures shall be permitted only on property which is zoned commercial or light industrial.
7. On-premises signs shall not exceed 30% of the square footage of the front of the building. No off-premises sign shall exceed 750 square feet. If a stand alone building has less than 400 square foot frontage, up to 400 square feet frontage may be used for purposes of determining the maximum sign size.
8. There shall be at least 1,000 feet distance between the location of off-premises signs on the same side of the highway.
9. No free-standing sign shall be higher than 25 feet from the ground level of the land upon which the sign has been erected. An applicant may apply for a variance in a case where an extreme hardship is caused by the particular physical characteristics of the land. The variance shall be applied for in the manner outlined in SLPC 16.60.040.

1. The following signs are prohibited:
   1. Any sign which, by reason of location, position, shape, color, design, or otherwise would interfere with traffic signs or signals or other officially posted signs;
   2. Any sign within a public right-of-way or easement except for government-installed signs and except for political signs, provided they are located no closer to the curb than six feet where there is no sidewalk and provided they are located on the home side of the sidewalk in areas where there is a sidewalk;
   3. Signs which resemble any official sign or marker erected by a governmental agency or which display such warning words as "stop" or "danger" or the like;
   4. Any flashing sign including indoor signs which are visible from public areas except for the temporary location of seasonal, holiday, or religious decorations. This section shall not prohibit animated signs as defined in this title;
   5. Any sign, poster, or the like affixed to or posted upon trees, fences, telephone or utility poles, or similar structures;
   6. Portable signs or search light signs, unless a temporary permit has been issued;
   7. Signs or sign structures obstructing windows, doors, fire escapes, stairways, or which otherwise impair means of egress or ingress are prohibited. Window signs shall be allowed, provided that such signage shall not exceed 30% of the window area, whether attached to the window or not, and shall not block views into and out of the building in the area between four and seven feet above the adjacent grade.
   8. Any sign painted upon the wall of a building.
   9. Off-premise signs.
2. No sign shall be erected in a residential district except as strictly provided herein and including only:
   1. Flags displayed on the premises;
   2. Seasonal decorations displayed temporarily on the premises;
   3. Signs displayed on the premises advertising the sale or lease of the property which are not greater than six square feet in surface area;
   4. Traffic signs and signs posted by official governmental agencies;
   5. In a state general election year, portable and free-standing political signs may be erected from August 1 until ten days following the state general election. No sign may be erected or placed in an unsafe manner. In non-state general election years, portable and freestanding political signs may be erected not more than 30 days before and two days after an election. When there is a primary election, all losers must remove their signs two days after the primary election;
   6. One non-commercial opinion sign not greater than six square feet in surface area; and
   7. One monument sign identifying a multiple subdivision or development not greater than 40 square feet in total surface area.

The following signs may be erected or maintained without requiring a permit in commercial/industrial zoning districts:

1. A flag displayed on the premises;
2. Seasonal decorations displayed temporarily on the premises;
3. Signs displayed on the premises advertising the sale or lease of the premises which are not greater than 32 square feet in surface area for commercial/industrial zoned property;
4. Traffic signs and signs posted by official government agencies, legal notices, and the like;
5. In a state general election year, portable and free-standing political signs of any size may be erected from August 1 until ten days following the state general election. No sign may be erected or placed in an unsafe manner. In non-state general election years, portable and free-standing political signs may be erected not more than 30 days before and five days after an election provided that no one sign is greater than 32 square feet. When there is a primary election, all losers must remove their signs two days after the primary election;
6. Flags, badges, or insignia of any governmental agency or any civic, religious, fraternal, or professional organization; and
7. Memorial plaques, monuments, and historical or civic markers or tributes.

1. No special permit required. The following signs may be erected without issuance of a special temporary sign permit.
   1. Temporary displays which are erected to celebrate, commemorate or observe a civil or religious holiday, provided such displays are removed within 30 days after the event or holiday, do not require a permit.
   2. Temporary signs for the purpose of selling or leasing individual lots or buildings provided that such signs are less than ten square feet for residential property and 32 square feet for other property, have a maximum height of ten feet, unless located on the building, and provided that only one sign is permitted for each property. The signs must be removed within ten days following the lease or sale.
2. Special permit required. The City Council may grant a special permit for the limited, temporary use of a sign and sign apparatus. The temporary sign may be used for two weeks at a time and for a maximum of six weeks per year. The fee for the special permit shall be in the amount per sign as set by the Council from time to time by resolution, for each two-week period that a sign is in place. A special permit shall be issued only upon a showing of the applicant's need for the temporary and limited use of a sign for a limited period of time and limited purpose, such as the announcement of a grand opening, the announcement of a sale, signs pertaining to businesses of temporary or seasonal character, or the like. Both the sign and sign apparatus must be removed following the time period above.

1. Regulations. Dynamic displays on signs are allowed subject to the following conditions:
   1. Dynamic displays are allowed only on monument and pylon signs for conditionally permitted uses in residential districts and for all uses in other districts. Dynamic displays may occupy no more than 35% of the actual copy and graphic area. The remainder of the sign must not have the capability to have dynamic displays even if not used. Only one, contiguous dynamic display area is allowed on a sign face;
   2. A dynamic display may not change or move more often than once every 20 minutes, except one for which changes are necessary to correct hour-and-minute, date, or temperature information. Time, date, or temperature information is considered one dynamic display and may not be included as a component of any other dynamic display. A display of time, date, or temperature must remain for at least 20 minutes before changing to a different display, but the time, date, or temperature information itself may change no more often than once every three seconds;
   3. The images and messages displayed must be static, and the transition from one static display to another must be instantaneous without any special effects;
   4. The images and messages displayed must be complete in themselves, without continuation in content to the next image or message or to any other sign;
   5. Every line of copy and graphics in a dynamic display must be at least seven inches in height on a road with a speed limit of 25 to 34 miles per hour, nine inches on a road with a speed limit of 35 to 44 miles per hour, 12 inches on a road with a speed limit of 45 to 54 miles per hour, and 15 inches on a road with a speed limit of 55 miles per hour or more. If there is insufficient room for copy and graphics of this size in the area allowed under Paragraph A,1, then no dynamic display is allowed;
   6. Dynamic displays must be designed and equipped to freeze the device in one position if a malfunction occurs. The displays must also be equipped with a means to immediately discontinue the display if it malfunctions, and the sign owner must immediately stop the dynamic display when notified by the city that it is not complying with the standards of this title;
   7. No animated sign shall be located or maintained within 50 feet of an intersection at which traffic semaphores are located;
   8. Dynamic displays must comply with the brightness standards listed in Paragraph C;
   9. Dynamic displays existing on December 7, 2015 must comply with the operational standards listed above. An existing dynamic display that does not meet the structural requirements in clause 1 may continue as a non-conforming sign subject to SLPC 16.24.100. An existing dynamic display that cannot meet the minimum size requirement in Paragraph A,5 must use the largest size possible for one line of copy to fit in the available space.
2. Incentives. Outdoor advertising signs do not need to serve the same way-finding function as do on-premises signs. Further, outdoor advertising signs are no longer allowed in the city, and there is no potential that they will proliferate. Finally, outdoor advertising signs are in themselves distracting and their removal serves public safety. The city is extremely limited in its ability to cause the removal of those signs. This paragraph is intended to provide incentives for the voluntary and uncompensated removal of outdoor off-premise advertising signs in certain settings. This removal results in an overall advancement of one or more of the goals set forth in this section that should more than offset any additional burden caused by the incentives. These provisions are also based on the recognition that the incentives create an opportunity to consolidate outdoor advertising services that would otherwise remain distributed throughout the community.
   1. A person may obtain a permit for an enhanced dynamic display on one face of an outdoor advertising sign if the following requirements are met:
      1. The applicant agrees in writing to permanently remove, within 15 days after issuance of the permit, at least two other faces of an outdoor advertising sign in the city that are owned or leased by the applicant, each of which must satisfy the criteria of Paragraphs B,1,b through B,1,d. This removal must include the complete removal of the structure and foundation supporting each sign face. The applicant must agree that the city may remove the sign if the applicant does not timely do so, and the application must be accompanied by a cash deposit or letter of credit acceptable to the City Attorney sufficient to pay the city's costs for that removal. The applicant must also agree that it is removing the sign voluntarily and that it has no right to compensation for the removed sign under any law.
      2. The city has not previously issued an enhanced dynamic display permit based on the removal of the particular faces relied upon in this permit application.
      3. Each removed sign has a copy and graphic area of at least 288 square feet.
      4. If the removed sign face is one for which a state permit is required by state law, the applicant must surrendered its permit to the state upon removal of the sign. The sign that is the subject of the enhanced dynamic display permit cannot begin to operate until proof is provided to the city that the state permit has been surrendered.
      5. The applicant must agree in writing that no dynamic displays will ever be used on one additional outdoor advertising sign that has a copy and graphic area of at least 288 square feet in size. This agreement will be binding on the applicant and all future owners of the sign. If the sign is subsequently removed or destroyed and not replaced, the holder of the enhanced dynamic display permit is not required to substitute a different sign for the one that no longer exists.
   2. If the applicant complies with the permit requirements noted above, the city will issue an enhanced dynamic display permit for the designated outdoor advertising sign. This permit will allow a dynamic display to occupy 100% of the potential copy and graphic area and to change no more frequently than once every 45 seconds. The designated sign must meet all other requirements of this title.
3. Brightness standards. All signs must meet the following brightness standards:
   1. No sign may be brighter than is necessary for clear and adequate visibility.
   2. No sign may be of such intensity or brilliance as to impair the vision of a motor vehicle driver with average eyesight or to otherwise interfere with the driver's operation of a motor vehicle.
   3. No sign may be of such intensity or brilliance that it interferes with the effectiveness of an official traffic sign, device or signal.
   4. No sign shall be located in such close proximity to residences or residential property as to constitute a nuisance to persons residing on the property by reason of the lighting in the sign.

1. Any sign erected prior to the effective date of this title which meets the terms of this title must have a permit as described herein. Any sign erected prior to the effective date of this title which does not conform to the terms of this title may be eligible for designation as a legal, non-conforming sign and must apply for and receive a permit for a legal non-conforming sign as described herein.
2. Any sign designated as a legal non-conforming sign shall immediately lose its character and be completely subject to the terms of this title upon any of the following:
   1. The sign being enlarged or altered in a way which increases its nonconformity;
   2. Relocation of any distance whatsoever; or
   3. Any substantial damage to the sign in an amount of 50% or more of its valuation in relation to the cost of materials and labor to repair the same and no building permit has been applied for within 180 days of when the sign was damaged.
3. No existing sign devoted to a use not permitted by the zoning code in the zoning district in which it is located shall be enlarged, extended or moved except in changing the sign to a sign permitted in the zoning district in which it is located.
4. When a structure loses its nonconforming status, all signs devoted to the structure shall be removed and all signs painted directly on the structure shall be repainted in a neutral color or a color which will harmonize with the structure.

It shall be unlawful for any person, joint venture, firm, or corporation to erect, alter, repair, move, equip, or maintain any sign or sign structure or cause or permit the same to be done in violation of any of the provisions of this title. The terms and conditions of this title apply to, and compliance is strictly required by, all persons including but not limited to the owners or lessees of land, their agents or employees, including building contractors and subcontractors. Whoever does any act or omits to do any act which thereby constitutes a breach of any section of this chapter shall also, upon conviction thereof by lawful authority, be guilty of a misdemeanor.