No land or building or structure shall be used for sign purposes except as specified herein. All signs legally existing at the time of passage of these regulations may remain in use under the conditions of legal nonconformance. Signs in legal nonconformance shall not be enlarged, moved, lighted or reconstructed; however, the change of the advertising display shall not be restricted except as previously stated. After the effective date of this regulation, no sign shall be erected, enlarged, constructed or otherwise installed without first obtaining a building permit. All signs shall be constructed in such a manner and of such materials that they shall be safe and substantial.

A.    Permitted Functional Types:

1.    Bulletin Board Sign: A sign that indicates the name of an institution or organization on whose premises it is located and which contains the name of the institution or organization, the name or names of persons connected with it, and announcement of persons, events or activities occurring at the institution.  Such signs may also present a greeting or similar message.

2.    Business Sign: A sign which directs attention to a business or profession conducted, or to products, services or entertainment sold or offered upon the premises where such sign is located, to which it is affixed.

3.    Construction Sign: A temporary sign indicating the names of the architects, engineers, landscape architects, contractors and similar artisans involved in the design and construction of a structure, complex or project only during the construction period and only on the premises on which the construction is taking place. Signs erected on R-1 and R-2 Residential lots shall be limited to two (2) square feet.

4.    Identification Sign: A sign giving the name and address of a building, business, development or establishment. Such sign may be wholly or partly devoted to a readily-recognized symbol.

5.    Name Plat Sign: A sign giving the name and address of the owner or occupant of a building or premises on which it is located and, where applicable, a professional status.

6.    Real Estate Sign: A sign pertaining to the sale or lease of all or part of a lot or tract of land on which the sign is located, or to the sale or lease of all or a part of one or more structures on which the sign is located.

B.    Permitted Structural types:

1.    Awning, Canopy or Marquee Sign: a sign that is mounted on, painted on, or attached to an awning, canopy or marquee. No such sign shall project above, below or beyond the awning, canopy or marquee.

2.    Ground Sign: Any sign placed upon, or supported by, the ground independent of the principal buildings or structure on the property, where the bottom edge of the sign is less than six (6) feet above the ground level.

3.    Pole Sign: Any sign placed upon, or supported by, the ground independent of the principal building or structure on the property, where the bottom edge of the sign is six (6) feet or more above the ground level.

4.    Projecting Sign: A sign that is wholly or partly dependent upon a building for support and which projects more than twelve (12) inches from such building.

5.    Wall Sign: A sign fastened to or painted on a wall of a building or structure in such a manner that the wall becomes merely the supporting structure or forms the background surface, and which does not project more than twelve (12) inches from such building.

A.    Gross Area of Sign: Gross area shall include the entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of the sign, exclusive of the base on which it is mounted or from which it is suspended. If more than one side of a sign is used as a sign, then the area of both sides shall be computed and shall count as a portion of the gross area. On lots where more than one sign is located, the total gross area of all the signs shall not exceed the maximum gross area permitted by this regulation.

B.    Sign Heights: Sign height shall be measured from the ground elevation at the base of the sign to the highest point of the sign. No sign shall exceed the height limitation of the district in which it is located.

C.    Accessway or Window: No sign shall block any required accessway or window.

D.    Signs on Trees or Utility Poles: No sign shall be attached to a tree or utility pole whether on public or private property.

E.    Traffic Safety:

1.    No sign shall be maintained at any location where by reason of its position, size, shape or color, it may obstruct, impair, obscure, interfere with the view of, or be confused with any traffic sign, signal or device, or where it may interfere with, mislead, or confuse traffic.

2.    Any sign located within three (3) feet of a driveway or within a parking area shall have its lowest elevation at least ten (10) feet above the curb level; however, no sign shall be placed so as to project over any public right-of-way.

F.    Lineal Street Frontage: In those districts where gross sign area is allocated based on lineal street frontage and the tract or parcel is adjacent to more than one (1) street, the lineal street frontage shall be the sum of all street frontages.

The following signs shall be exempt from the requirements of this article, except for the provisions of Section 3 above:

A.    Flags or emblems of a governmental or of a political, civic, philanthropic, educational or religious organization, displayed on private property.

B.    Signs of a duly constituted governmental body, including traffic or similar regulatory signs, legal notices, warnings at rail road crossings and other instructional or regulatory signs having to do with health, safety, parking, swimming, dumping etc.

C.    Memorial signs and tablets displayed on private property.

D.    Small signs, not exceeding two (2) square feet in area, displayed on private property for the convenience of the public, including signs to identify entrance and exit drives, parking areas, one-way drives, restrooms, freight entrances and other similar signs.

E.    Small signs, not exceeding two (2) square feet in area, which identifies the lot owner, owners home town and lot number are permitted on R-1 and R-2 residential lots.  These signs are allowed as a convenience for identification purposes for the lot owner and emergency services vehicles.

The number, type and size of signs permitted per lot in each district shall be as follows:

A.    Residential Districts “R-1” and “R-2”: No signs shall be permitted other than those exempted above or required by state or federal law.

B.    Park and Open Space District “P-1”: Bulletin board and identification signs are permitted as canopy, ground or walls signs provided that the total sign area shall not exceed one (1) square foot per four (4) lineal feet of street frontage and that no single sign shall exceed forty (40) square feet.

C.    Restricted Commercial District “C-1”: All functional and structural sign types are permitted provided that the total sign area does not exceed one (1) square foot per four (4) lineal feet of street frontage and that no single sign shall exceed sixty (60) square feet. 

D.    Light Industrial District “I-1”: All functional and structural sign types are permitted provided that the total sign area does not exceed one (1) square foot per four (4) lineal feet of street frontage and that no sign shall exceed one hundred (100) square feet.