18.29.640 Design and construction standards

A. Size of Advertising Area. 1. Billboard advertising shall not exceed six hundred seventy-five square feet in area, fifty feet in width or fifteen feet in height. 2. The maximum size and height of the advertising area is exclusive of embellishments. a. Embellishments may be allowed provided the embellishment does not exceed fifteen percent of the advertising face of any billboard and does not extend more than five feet above or to the side of the billboard structure. B. Height. The highest point of any billboard shall be no higher than thirty-five feet above the adjacent roadway grade. If the roadway, within one hundred feet of the billboard measured from the roadway at the point at which the billboard is perpendicular to the roadway, is on a different grade than the billboard, then the height may be increased such that the lowest point of the billboard, excluding embellishments, may be twenty feet above the pavement elevation or any barrier wall at that location of the roadway. C. Setbacks. All setbacks shall be measured from the closest edge of any portion of a billboard to the property line. The minimum yard setback from all property lines shall be five feet. D. Lighting. Lighting shall be confined to illumination of the sign face and shall not be directed onto adjacent properties. Such lighting shall also conform to the illumination provisions of this chapter. E. Supports. All billboards shall be detached signs. Monopole construction is required unless the department determines that special design or safety considerations exist that warrant differing support systems. F. Maintenance. All billboards shall be routinely, as is customary in the industry, maintained both structurally and copy. G. Landscaping. All billboards are to be located in a landscaped area sized consistent with the size and configuration of the billboard and the property on which located, unless granted an exception by the Planning Commission. The commission shall consider the specific site and the development thereon, the safety of the access to the property and the circulation therein, and the relationship of the billboard structure to the properties and buildings in the general vicinity. H. Electronic Messages. To encourage innovation and creativity, billboards may use LED or other types of electronic messaging when granted a conditional use permit by the Planning Commission. 1. The screen may not be larger than the total square footage allowed for the billboard at that area. The structure supporting and surrounding the LED or other electronic message devise will not be counted in the square footage of the sign provided no advertising is incorporated in or on such supports. If advertising is included, then such must be counted in figuring the total allowable square footage of sign area. 2. Copy may not change more frequently than every four seconds. Copy may contain motion, subject to approval by the Planning Commission. (Ord.2009-6, dated 5/12/09)