6.00.01. Relationship to building and electrical codes. These sign regulations are intended to complement the requirements of the building and electrical codes adopted by the city. Wherever there is inconsistency between these regulations and the building or electrical code, the more stringent requirement shall apply.

6.00.02. No defense to nuisance action. Compliance with the requirements of these regulations shall not constitute a defense to an action brought to abate a nuisance under the common law.

The construction, design and maintenance of all signs in the City of Sweetwater shall meet with the following requirements:

1.

Structural and safety features and electrical systems shall be in accordance with the requirements of the Florida Building Code. No sign shall be approved for use unless it has been inspected by the building official issuing the permit and is found to be in compliance with all requirements of this article and the applicable technical standards.

2.

All signs shall have concealed structural members except vertical supports. Signs shall appear to be an integral part of the building when attached to the building walls and, in general, [are] to present a good aesthetic appearance.

3.

Unless otherwise indicated, all signs shall be located as to comply with the setback requirements for accessory structures of the district in which they are located.

4.

All signs and sign structures shall be maintained in good condition and appearance. The building official may cause to be removed any sign or sign structure which shows neglect or becomes dilapidated or where the area around such sign or sign structure is not well maintained after due notice has been given of such defect.

5.

Calculating number of signs. A single sign containing advertisement on each side shall be counted as one sign. Every other sign shall be counted as a separate sign for each face thereof. Excepting class C signs, "V" type signs will be considered as one sign if the interior angle of the "V" is 15 degrees or less.

6.

Calculating sign size. The area of a sign shall include borders and framing. Heights shall be measured to the top extremity of the sign and distances to the farthest point. The square footage in a circular rotating or revolving sign shall be determined by multiplying one-half of the circumference by the height of the rotating sign, except in the case of the flat rotating sign, the area will be determined by the square footage of one side of such sign. The director shall have the discretion of determining the area of any sign which is irregular in shape and in such cases will be guided by calculations as made by a licensed, registered engineer when same are shown on the drawing.

(Ord. No. 4528, § 3(Exh. A), 6-18-2019)

The following signs are exempted from the provisions of these regulations (except for the requirements of 6.03) and may be erected or constructed without a permit, but in accordance with the structural and safety requirements of the Florida Building Code:

1.

Official traffic signs or sign structures, when erected or required to be erected by a government agency, and temporary signs indicating danger.

2.

Changing of the copy on a bulletin board, poster board, display encasement or marquee.

3.

Temporary, nonilluminated signs as permitted by the district regulations, advertising real estate for sale or lease or announcing contemplated improvements of real estate, and located on the premises.

4.

Temporary, nonilluminated signs as permitted by the district regulations, erected in connection with new construction work and displayed on the premises during such time as the actual construction work is in progress.

5.

Signs on a truck, bus or other vehicle, while in use in the normal course of a business.

6.

Temporary paper signs, as permitted by the district regulations, except garage sale signs as permitted under section 18-347 of the City Code. Garage sale signs are allowed only as related to the sale of household items and incidental to the sale of items accumulated by the home owner or occupants and are not to be conducted as a commercial enterprise.

7.

Temporary political signs that conform with the district sign regulations.

8.

Nonilluminated signs, not exceeding 15 square feet in area, with letters not exceeding six inches in height, painted, stamped, perforated or stitched on the surface area of an awning, canopy, roller curtain or umbrella if permitted by district regulations.

9.

Bus bench advertising within certain city-owned rights-of-way as permitted by sections 18-26 et seq. of the Code of Ordinances.

10.

Signs placed by the city at Ronselli Park baseball field for advertisement by those persons, firms and corporations sponsoring certain athletic programs.

11.

Regional mall window signs on regional malls as defined herein.

(Ord. No. 2981, § 3(6.02.00(6)), 8-12-2002; Ord. No. 4528, § 3(Exh. A), 6-18-2019)

The following signs and sign characteristics are prohibited in the City of Sweetwater:

1.

No sign shall be constructed, erected, used, operated or maintained which:

a.

Displays flashing, rippling, or intermittent lights or lights which are alternatively bright and dim.

b.

Uses the word "stop" or "danger," or presents or implies the need or requirement for stopping or the existence of a danger, or which is a copy or imitation of an official sign.

c.

Is so located and so illuminated as to provide a background of colored lights blending with traffic signal lights to the extent of confusing a motorist when viewed from a normal approaching position of a vehicle.

d.

Any sign not permanently attached to the ground or other permanent structure or any sign designed to be portable. Portable signs shall include, but not be limited to, signs designed to be transported by means of wheels; skid-mounted signs; signs converted to A- or T-frames; and menu and sandwich signs.

2.

Pennants, banners, streamers and all other fluttering, spinning or similar type signs and advertising devices are prohibited except for national flags and flags of political subdivisions of the United States and except for flags of bona fide civic, charitable, fraternal, and welfare organizations, and except during nationally recognized holiday periods, or events sponsored by the city or special events permitted under the city Code of Ordinances, pennants, banners, streamers and other fluttering, spinning or similar type of advertising devices pertaining to said holiday periods may be displayed on a temporary permit basis as provided for in these regulations.

3.

Signs shall be prohibited over public streets, sidewalks and alleys unless permitted on a temporary permit basis by the city commission.

4.

No sign, portable or otherwise, shall be erected, constructed or maintained on corners, front yard or side yard setbacks so as to interfere with the vision of vehicle operators on the abutting streets.

5.

No signs shall be attached to trees, utility poles or any other unapproved supporting structure.

6.

Strip lighting to outline a structure shall be prohibited except as the strip lighting may be an integral part of a permitted sign.

7.

Billboards and snipe signs shall be prohibited.

8.

No signs shall be erected, relocated or maintained so as to prevent free ingress to or egress from any door, window or fire escape. No sign of any kind shall be attached to a standpipe or fire escape.

9.

It shall be unlawful for any person to display on any sign or other advertising structure, any obscene, indecent or immoral matter.

10.

Roof signs shall be prohibited unless approved by resolution of the city commission.

11.

No signs, including those signs described under section 6.02.00, shall be nailed, stapled or otherwise attached to coconut and palm trees.

12.

Bumper stickers are prohibited on any building, structure, fence, poles, windows, except on motor vehicles. If it the intent of this subsection to prohibit bumper stickers on all or any structure and/or appurtenant.

(Ord. No. 2981, § 4(6.03.00(d), 2., 12.), 8-12-2002)

A.

No sign, unless exempted by section 6.02.00 above, shall be erected, constructed, posted, painted, altered, maintained or relocated, until a permit has been approved and issued by the building official and the city clerk. Before any permit is issued, an application including written approval of the owner of the property shall be filed with drawings and specifications to the extent as may be necessary to fully advise the city as to the location, construction, materials, manner of illuminating and/or securing, fastening, the number of signs applied for, and the wording of the signs or advertisement to be carried on the sign. All signs which are electrically illuminated by neon or by other means shall require a separate electrical permit and inspection. All signs shall be erected on or before the expiration of 60 days from the date of issuance of the permit; otherwise, the permit shall become null and void and a new permit shall be required.

B.

Applications for unusual signs or displays which give rise to questions of interpretation of these regulations may be referred by the building official to the planning and zoning board for the purpose of interpretation by the board and recommendation for action on the application by the building official.

C.

The owner and/or tenant of the premises and the owner and/or erector of the sign shall be held responsible for any violation of these regulations where a sign has been erected in accordance with these regulations and the sign company shall be relieved of further responsibility under these regulations after final approval of the sign by the building official.

D.

The building official shall remove or cause to be removed any sign erected or maintained in conflict with these regulations if the owner or lessee of either the site or the sign fails to correct the violation within ten days after receiving written notice of the violation from the above official. Removal of a sign by the building official shall not affect any proceedings instituted prior to removal of such sign.

The building official upon application as required in section 6.04.00 above may issue temporary permits for the following signs and displays for a period not to exceed 15 days, unless otherwise specified, when, in his opinion, the use of said signs and displays would be in the public interest and would not result in damage to private property:

1.

Signs advertising a special civic or cultural event such as a fair or exposition, play, concert, or meeting sponsored by a governmental or charitable organization.

2.

Special decorative displays used for holidays, public demonstrations or promotions of a nonpartisan civic purpose.

3.

Special sales, [or] promotion displays in a district where such sales are permitted including displays incidental to the opening of a new business.

(Ord. No. 2981, § 5(6.05.00), 8-12-2002)

The following limitations shown on table 6.1 shall be applicable to all signs located on lots within the various zoning districts. The NP designation indicates that the particular sign type is not permitted within the particular zoning district. When a limitation is placed on the square footage, this limitation shall be on the total square footage of all the signs of the type indicated, unless otherwise noted. Table 6.1 is amended by excluding political signs from temporary painted paper, cardboard, or wood and creating a separate designation for political signs. Non-illuminated signs, flat walls signs, and detached signs square footage is amended as set forth in the table.

(Ord. No. 2981, § 6(6.06.00), 8-12-2002; Ord. No. 4528, § 3(Exh. A), 6-18-2019)

TABLE 6.1

Notes applicable to table 6.1:

1.

Within the T-1 zoning districts, the following regulations apply:

1.

RM-15/RM-24 regulations apply to residential mobile home rental park office complex.

2.

RS/RD/RTW regulations apply to individual residential mobile homes.

2.

For the specific uses listed below the following regulations apply within these zoning districts:

a.

Parks and playgrounds located within these districts may have signs with a total sign area not to exceed 40 square feet.

b.

Churches or other houses or worship located in these districts shall be permitted signs with a total sign area not to exceed 100 square feet.

c.

Family day care and after-school centers located within these districts shall be permitted signs with a total sign area not to exceed 30 square feet.

3.

Banks located in the RM-24 district may use up to the maximum sign area which would be permitted if such establishment were located in a commercial district of the city.

4.

These signs shall be permitted only for identifying the name and/or address or management of a multifamily dwelling or group of multifamily dwellings.

5.

No part of such signs shall be located in the side or rear yards, or closer than ten feet from front property line, nor shall any part of the sign exceed a height of ten feet above the ground.

6.

No signs in these districts shall face residential areas.

7.

No part of such signs shall be located in the side or rear yards, or closer than ten feet from front property line, nor shall any part of the sign exceed a height of 24 feet above the ground.

8.

For such signs attached to or placed adjacent to street frontage windows or entrance doors.

9.

For such signs installed in a freestanding mode.

10.

For specific regulations see article II section 2.05.22 of the land development regulations.

11.

For regulations on murals/ graphic for temporary use refer to section 5.05.01.

12.

For single individual business on a lot, no part of such signs shall be located in the side or rear yards, or closer than seven feet from front property line. Nor shall any part of the sign exceed a height of eight feet above the ground. Where multiple businesses are located on a given lot, each business use shall be permitted a wall sign only, except for office buildings.

13.

Regional mall window signs are exempt as per section 6.02.00.

(Ord. No. 2981, Table 6.1, 8-12-2002; Ord. No. 4528, § 3(Exh. A), 6-18-2019; Ord. No. 4999, § 2(Exh. A), 10-16-2023)

6.06.01. Definitions for signage. The following words and phrases are hereby defined as provided in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Where there is a question as to the correct classification or definition of a sign, the director shall place said sign in the strictest category and/or classification.

Accessory sign: A supplemental sign relating to products or services sold, affiliations, and/or uses of the premises on which the sign is located.

Attraction board: A sign or portion of a sign on which copy is changed periodically, advertising special sales, bargains, etc. Said attraction board may be incorporated into the sign permitted.

Awning, canopy, roller curtain or umbrella sign: Any sign painted, stamped, perforated, or stitched on the surface area of an awning, canopy, roller curtain or umbrella.

Blank wall. The wall of a building that is free of windows, balconies, railings, articulated facade, decorative grills or gratings, or other architectural elements. Walls constructed on rooftops or as part of a parapet shall not be considered blank walls for the purposes of this article.

Cantilever: That portion of a building, projecting horizontally, whether it be on the same plane as the roof line or not.

Cantilever sign: Any sign which is mounted on a cantilever. No cantilever sign may extend beyond the cantilever.

Changeable copy sign: Any sign used in conjunction with a drive-through restaurant establishments shall be permitted to have a changeable copy sign showing menu or featured items, provided it has a transparent protective locked cover; it is affixed to a wall of the establishment adjacent to the drive-in service window or located freestanding within and parallel to the drive-in lane area. Whenever such sign is visible from a right-of-way, a landscape material shall also be required and located so as to screen the sign from the right-of-way.

Class A (temporary signs): Any sign(s) to be erected on a temporary basis, such as signs advertising the sale or rental of the premises on which located; signs advertising a subdivision of property; signs advertising construction actually being done on the premises on which the sign is located; signs advertising future construction to be done on the premises on which located, and special events, such as carnivals, concerts, public meetings, sporting events, political campaigns or events of a similar nature.

Class B (point of sale sign): Any sign advertising or designating the use, occupant of the premises, or merchandise and products sold on the premises, shall be deemed to be a point of sale sign (class B) and shall be located on the same premises whereon such is situated or the products sold.

Class C (commercial advertising signs): Any sign which is used for any purpose other than that of advertising to the public the legal or exact firm name of business or other activity carried on the premises, or for advertising any service or product or products actually and actively being offered for sale on the premises, or which is designed and displayed solely to offer for sale or rent the premises, or to advertise construction being done, or proposed to be done, on the premises, or to advertise special events, shall constitute a class C sign. Class C signs may be in the form of a billboard, kiosk, bulletin board, mural, or poster board, or may be affixed flat to a building or painted thereon.

Detached sign: Any sign not attached to or painted on a building, but which is affixed and permanently attached to the ground. Permanently attached as used herein shall mean that the supporting structure of the sign is attached to the ground by a concrete foundation.

Digital technology (signs): Electronic technology that allows for changes to sign copy resulting from digital data input. Included in this technology are signs that use series of lights, including light emitting diodes (LED), fiber optics, or other similar technology.

Director: The Director of the City of Sweetwater Building and Zoning Department or the director's designee.

Directional sign: A sign which guides or directs the public and contains no advertising. The name of the facility (such as store name), which the sign is giving direction to, may be included when specified conditions in the ordinance are complied with.

Flat sign: Any sign attached to and erected parallel to the face of, or erected or painted on the outside wall of any building, and supported throughout its length by such wall or building.

Identification sign: A sign which indicates the name of a use, owner, activity, business or enterprise.

Marquee: A covered structure projecting from, and supported by the building with independent roof and drainage provisions, and which is erected over a doorway or entranceway as protection against the weather.

Marquee sign: Any sign attached to or hung from a marquee.

Mural: Any class C wall sign painted on, affixed, or secured flat to the facade of a building, wall or fence.

Nits (nt): The unit of measurement for luminance. Luminance is the measure of the light emanating from an object with respect to its size and is the term used to quantify electronic sign brightness. A nit is the total amount of light emitted from a sign divided by the surface area of the sign (candelas per square meter (cd/m ² ).

Nonconforming sign: A legal and permitted sign, including a sign for which a variance has been granted which does not comply with the requirements of the City Code. The name and identity of the business or logo may be changed without losing its protected nonconforming status.

Nonilluminated sign: A sign which is not illuminated by internal or external lights which are designed for such illumination, nor is designed with any special light-reflective surfaces.

Portable sign: Any sign not attached to or painted on a building and not affixed or permanently attached to the ground.

Regional mall sign: Non-electric signs and advertisement located on windows of a regional mall/shopping center located within the city consisting of an enclosed mall with a minimum of three major tenants(each having 100,000 square feet) located on not less than 75 acres and consisting of not less than 1,000,000 square feet of building area. Such signs may be permitted to cover windows if the material covering the window is adhesive-backed and perforated and transparent to the occupants from within the regional mall and does not prevent the opening of windows or doors intended to be opened or prevent ingress and egress to the regional mall and such signs are not visible from any public right of way. Such signs shall be exempt from city permit.

Roof sign: Any sign which is painted on, fastened to, or supported by the roof or erected over the roof.

Semaphore: Any sign consisting of two dual-face signs extending horizontally from a light standard. Such sign projecting from opposite sides of such light standard, and such signs must be located in the parking lot of a shopping center to identify the location of parking areas. No advertising is permitted on the sign.

Special event: Any sign that advertises carnivals, concerts, public meetings, sports events and other uses of a similar nature. This includes the advertising for companies providing income tax services during tax period. A permit is required for these types of signs and the sign shall be permitted for a period of two months before the event and shall be removed within 15 days after the event is over.

This definition does not include grand openings and sales events for businesses, any sign under this type of event would be considered a temporary sign.

Sign: An identification, description, illustration or device which is affixed to or represented directly or indirectly upon a building, structure or land, which directs attention to a product, place, activity, person, institution, or business. Any display of characters, letters, logos, illustrations or any ornamentation designed or used as an advertisement, announcement, or to indicate direction. Use of merchandise, products, vehicles, equipment, inflated balloons, or the like as an attention attractor or advertising device, with or without a printed or written message or advertisement, shall be considered a sign.

Snipe sign: A sign of any material attached to any object having no use reference to the premises where located and placed in use without the permission of the owner or lessee of the property.

Temporary sign: A sign classified as temporary under this code shall be permitted to be installed for a period not to exceed 15 days, unless otherwise specified, or when in the director's opinion, the use of said signs would be in the public interest and would not result in damage to private property. A temporary permit shall be issued by the building department.

Wall sign: Any sign painted on or attached to and erected parallel to the face of, or erected and confined within the limits of, the outside wall of any building and supported by such wall or building and which displays only one advertising surface.

Window sign: A sign attached to or painted on the inside of a storefront window or door or any sign located within a window or upon the inside surface or outside surface of the window glass used to attract such attention located within the premises which is located within three feet from the window opening.

(Ord. No. 4528, § 3(Exh. A), 6-18-2019)

Definitions: An LED sign shall mean any sign made primarily of light emitting diodes ("LED"). A pixel is the smallest unit in any image that will display either color or grayscale. A full color LED sign means a sign that uses red, green and blue ("RGB") colors comprising a pixel. Grayscale describes the ability of individual LEDs to vary in brightness to create shaded pictures or graphic that appear to contain no color but only black, white or hues of gray. A nit is a unit of measure that measures the light emitted from an LED device.

Intent: This section is intended only to govern the use of LED technology as applied to signage. In all other respects, including whether a sign may be erected at all, the land development code shall control.

Use: LED signs shall be permitted only when in full compliance with this section.

Geographic area. LED signs shall be permitted only in areas bearing the zoning designation C under the Sweetwater zoning code or the designations IU or BU under the Miami-Dade zoning code in such areas of the City of Sweetwater governed by the Miami-Dade zoning code.

Distance from residential-zoned properties. An LED sign shall be placed at a distance no less than a 300-foot radius from the property lines of a residential-zoned property.

Hours of operation. The maximum hours of operation of an LED sign shall be limited from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. (midnight).

Illumination, technical and operational requirements.

(1)

Each LED sign shall automatically adjust its intensity of illumination based on the natural light conditions occurring at the time of adjustment.

(2)

Each LED sign shall contain a default mechanism that freezes the image in one position in the event of a malfunction. The sign owner or operator shall respond to a malfunction within one hour of city notification of the malfunction.

(3)

Changes of message shall occur simultaneously on the entire sign face. Each message shall be displayed for a duration of no less than eight seconds in time and any change of message must be occur within two seconds in time.

Issuance of permits.

(1)

Building and electrical permits are required. Any LED sign facing a state road shall comply with state department of transportation sign regulations and requirements. The contractor or property owner shall provide written consent from the state department of transportation for the installation of the sign prior to the city issuing its permits for the sign.

(2)

Prior to the issuance of permits for a sign, the sign contractor or property owner shall submit to the city data relating to glare and brightness of the LED display, measured in nits, that is usually is provided by the manufacturer.

(Ord. No. 3614, Art. 1, 1-9-2012)

6.08.01. Definitions.

(a)

"Expressway" shall mean limited access rights-of-way and facilities and related approaches, viaducts, bridges and interchange facilities and service roads and any portion of the interstate highway system, now existing or as may be later constructed or designated.

(b)

"Applicable regulations" shall mean any pertinent zoning, building or other regulations in effect in the City of Sweetwater or in Miami-Dade or the State of Florida and applicable to the City of Sweetwater.

(c)

"Protected areas" shall mean all property in City of Sweetwater within 600 feet of the right-of-way of any expressway right-of-way provided that directional signs and semaphore signs may be located on any portion of a shopping center.

(d)

"Sign" shall have that meaning defined in article I of the land development code.

(e)

"Erect" shall mean to construct, build, rebuild (if more than 50 percent of the structural members involved), relocate raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, paint, draw, or in any other manner bring into being or establish.

(f)

"Temporary sign" shall mean signs to be erected on a temporary basis, such as signs advertising the sale or rental of the premises on which located; signs advertising a subdivision of property; signs advertising construction actually being done on premises on which the sign is located; signs advertising future construction to be done on the premises on which located and special events, such as public meetings, sporting events, political campaigns or events of a similar nature.

(g)

"Point of sale sign" shall mean any sign advertising or designating the use, occupant of the premises, or merchandise or products sold on the premises.

6.08.02. Signs prohibited in protected areas. It shall be unlawful hereafter for any person, firm or corporation, or any other legal entity to erect, permit or maintain any sign in protected areas, except as provided for hereinafter.

6.08.03. Exceptions. Erection of the following signs shall be permitted in protected areas, subject to the conditions and limitations listed herein and further, subject to other applicable regulations where such regulations are more restrictive or more definitive than the provisions of this division and are not inconsistent therewith:

(a)

Temporary signs which are located and oriented to serve streets other than an expressway, and are located at least 100 feet from the expressway right-of-way, except that such signs may serve and be oriented to an expressway if the property concerned abuts the expressway right-of-way and is not served by a parallel expressway service road or is abutting the expressway right-of-way and has direct, permanent legal access to the expressway. In no event shall any temporary sign be larger than 120 square feet.

(b)

Point of sale signs which are located on and oriented to the frontage on the street which provides actual and direct access to the front or principal entrance of the place of business; however, on corner lots a second detached point of sale sign will be permitted provided that the same is not larger than 40 square feet, is located on and oriented to the street frontage of the street other than the one serving the principal entrance of the place of business. "Oriented," in connection with point of sale signs shall mean, in the case of detached signs, placed at a 90-degree angle to the street being serviced; in the case of roof signs, parallel to and fronting such street and within the front 25 percent of the building concerned; and in the case of pylon signs, within the front 20 percent of the building concerned. Wall signs within 200 feet of an expressway shall be confined to the wall of the building containing the principal entrance, except that a wall sign may be placed on one other wall of such building and shall be limited to ten percent of such other wall area. In no event shall any detached point of sale sign be erected within the protected area which is greater in height than 25 feet above the average grade of the premises concerned, and no point of sale roof sign shall be erected which is greater in height above the roof than ten feet.

6.08.04. Penalty. Any person violating any of the provisions of this division shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500.00 or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed 60 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the county court. Any continuing violations of the provisions of this division may be enjoined and restrained by injunctive order of the circuit court in appropriate proceedings instituted for such purpose.

6.08.05. Variances. Variances may be granted as consistent with article VII of the land development code.

(Ord. No. 3687, Art. 1, 7-16-2012)