Sign Ordinance
1 ABOUT
THIS DOCUMENT
1.1 The official name of this document is the “Decatur
Sign Ordinance” although in this document it will just be called “this document”
or “this ordinance”. It is part of the City’s official Zoning Ordinance.
1.2 The reason for this ordinance is to accomplish
the purposes listed in the Zoning Ordinance. Another reason for this
document is to protect the historic and small town character of
2 DEFINITIONS
2.1 Some of the important words used in this
document are listed below, followed by an explanation of what the words mean:
Sign means
a picture, logo, letters, lights, color, displays and all other such devices or
items used to promote or attract attention to a product, business, service or
activity. Signs that cannot be seen from the street are not regulated by this
ordinance nor are signs that are installed by public utilities and governments that
are erected for safety reasons, such as traffic and street signs.
Sign area means the total area of a box drawn around the extent of a sign
background (which is used to distinguish the sign), sign cabinet or structure (See
Illustration A).
Sign height means the distance from grade to the top of the sign.
Street frontage means the property line adjacent to the right-of-way
of a public street.
Building frontage means the exterior wall of a building or tenant
space that has a primary, public entrance.
Building setback means the shortest distance from the nearest public
street right-of-way to the building frontage.
Alter means
to change the size or shape of a sign.
2.2 Words not defined are to be interpreted according
to the normally accepted meaning of the word or its customary usage.
3 ABOUT
THE PROCESS
3.1 The City’s Planning Director is
responsible for interpreting, administering and enforcing this ordinance. If need
be, the Director may designate others who are qualified to help in this
process.
3.2 To make sure this ordinance is followed, all signs being installed, altered or moved
require a permit and everyone engaged in the business of installing signs is required
to get a sign license from the City. Signs being refaced for maintenance or to
accommodate change of business are excluded.
When getting a permit, the Planning Director will require the
following information: 1) Plot Plan, 2) Sign Drawings and Details, 3) Building
Elevations, and 4) Engineered Plans for Freestanding Signs over 8’ in height.
Once the permit is issued, the recipient has 180 days to complete the work before
the permit expires.
3.3 To help cover the cost, a fee will be charged
for the license and the permit. This fee will be set by City Council and listed
in the City’s adopted Fee Schedule.
3.4 To protect the City and its citizens, everyone applying
for a sign license must first provide a good and sufficient surety bond payable
to the City in the sum of $5,000.00.
4 ENFORCING
THIS ORDINANCE
4.1 To make sure this ordinance is followed and to protect
the City and its citizens, the Planning Director will require signs to
be inspected, will revoke licenses or permits for violations, will issue fines
for violations and will have illegal signs removed.
4.2 Fines for violations will range from a $50
minimum to a $200 maximum and will be charged daily for each separate
violation. Temporary illegal signs or signs imposing an immediate danger will
be removed immediately without notification. Illegal permanent signs will be
removed only after notification and a 30 day opportunity to correct the
problem.
4.3 To lessen violations, the City will not issue
new sign permits where illegal signs or violations still exist.
5 ABOUT
EXISTING SIGNS
5.1 After this ordinance is adopted, all permanent
signs not meeting the requirements of this ordinance are legal but
nonconforming. As such, they are not required to conform unless they are
removed, moved or suffer damage in excess of 50% of their replacement costs.
5.2 After this ordinance is adopted, all illegal
temporary signs are subject to removal.
5.3 After the adoption of this ordinance, abandoned signs
and sign poles are subject to removal after notification and a 30 day
opportunity to correct the problem. This also applies to signs that advertise a
business that has closed.
5.4 If the situation arises where a sign has to be
removed and the owner has failed to correct the problem, then the City will
have the sign removed. The cost for the removal will then be assessed against
the land or building where the sign was located.
5.5 The ultimate liability and responsibility for
all signs rests with the property owner, the applicant and/or business owner
and the sign installer. These three parties are responsible to see that signs
comply with this ordinance.
6 RULES
APPLYING TO SIGNS
6.1 What follows is a list of rules regarding signs
in the City of
1. The
sign must be on the same site to which its advertisement refers.
2. The
leading edge of a permanent sign must be at least five feet off the street
right-of-way. Temporary signs must not be on or over street right-of-way.
3. Signs
must not be attached to fences, natural features or utility poles.
4. Permanent
signs must be attached so that they are not moved by the wind.
5. Signs
cannot have words or pictures which display specified sexual activities, nudity
or semi-nudity as defined in the City’s Code of Ordinances, Section 7, titled
“Sexually Oriented Business”.
6. The
sign and surrounding area must be kept clean, safe, neatly painted and
maintained and in good repair.
7. The
sign cannot have flashing or flickering lights or moving parts unless it is an electronic
message board sign (See 7.1 #20 on Page 5).
8. Illuminated
signs must not interfere with traffic or traffic devices. An illuminated sign
next to a residential area must be placed away from this area a distance equal
to four times its height.
9. The
sign must meet all other adopted codes, such as building, electrical and fire
codes.
10. The
sign must be at least ten feet from power lines or the distance required by the
adopted electrical code, whichever one requires the most separation.
11. The
sign can only have two faces, a front and a back, with a distance of not more
than 18 inches between these faces.
12. The
wiring to freestanding signs must be underground. The wiring to all other signs
must be hidden.
13. Freestanding
signs over eight feet in height (from grade to top of sign) require structural
plans sealed by a civil or structural engineer licensed in
14. Freestanding
signs must be designed for a 90 m.p.h. wind load.
15. Freestanding
signs must be at least five feet away from buildings, driveways and parking
areas. For protection, they must have a curbed or protected landscape area around
the sign of at least four feet from the sign structure. This area must be at
least four times the size of the sign area.
16. Mobile
signs are not permitted unless specifically allowed herein.
7 SIGNS
ALLOWED IN
7.1 What follows is a list of signs allowed in
1. Incidental signs used to inform or give direction for safety reasons,
for example, “stop engine”, “no smoking” and “do not
enter”.
Max Size 2 Square Feet
Permit Not Required
District All
2. Identification signs such as nameplates and addresses used primarily for
convenience and not advertisement.
Max Size 2 Square Feet
Permit Not Required
District All
3. Shingle signs hanging perpendicular to the door at least 7 feet
off the ground.
Max Size 4 Square Feet
Number 1 per Establishment
Permit Not Required
District All Districts
4. Garage sale or yard sale signs as long as no more than two sales are conducted each
year and the signs are not up more than four days before or one day after the
sale. (These are the only signs allowed offsite).
Max Size 2 Square Feet
Number One On-Site – No More Than 3 Off-Site
Height 3 Feet
Permit Not Required
District All
5. Development signs advertising a new development or subdivision or the
names of the people or businesses involved with the development. These signs
may be installed after the plat is filed and can remain up until the
subdivision is filled or the development is complete.
Size 32 Square Feet + Bonus
Bonus Add ¼ SF of Area for every One Foot of
Street Frontage Over 100
Feet.
Max Size 64 Square Feet
Number One Per Street – No
More Than Two
Height 8 Feet
Permit Required
District All
6. Real estate signs advertising the sale, lease or rental of a property.
Max Size 6 SF Residential/32
SF Commercial
Number One Per Street Front
– No More Than 2
Height 6 Feet
Permit Not Required
District All
7. Political signs with information about a candidate, political party
or public issue in the current election campaign.
Max Size 16 Square Feet
Number Unlimited
Height 4 Feet
Permit Not Required
District All
8. Temporary banners that are firmly tied down so that they do not blow
freely in the wind. Banners cannot be up for more than ten consecutive days or
a total of 30 days, annually. After this time, the banners and all of their
components must be removed for 10 consecutive days.
Max Size 40 Square Feet
Number One Freestanding/One Wall
Height 6 Feet – 10 Feet if Attached to a Wall
Permit Not Required
District Commercial Only
9.
Max Size Unlimited
Number Unlimited
Height Unlimited
Permit Not Required
District All
10. Special event signs advertising a public, communitywide commercial
event, such as a rodeo, car show or circus. These signs cannot be up for more
than ten consecutive days.
Max Size Unlimited
Number Unlimited
Height Unlimited
Permit Not Required
District All
11. Sponsorship signs and scoreboards located within public facilities, such as sports
stadiums and ball fields, and designed to attract attention only from the
people within the facilities. These signs require special written permission (but
not a permit) from the Planning Director who will verify that the
signs only attract the attention of the people within the facilities.
Max Size Unlimited
Number Unlimited
Height Unlimited
Permit Not Required
District All
12. Wall signs are signs placed flat against a building wall or structure, such as a
canopy over fuel pumps, and they do not extend out for more than 12 inches. These
signs are allowed for every building or tenant space that has at least twenty
feet of building frontage.
Number Unlimited
Height 20 Feet – Not Above Wall
Location Middle 75% (See
Illustration B)
Permit Required
District MF, Commercial and
Industrial
Just how much wall sign is allowed depends upon the
size of the building or tenant space and how far it sits back on the property.
(Please note that the frontage and setback of one building or tenant space
cannot be used for a sign on another building or tenant space). It also
depends on which zoning district the building is in.
For property zoned Multi-Family:
Max Size 10 Square Feet
For property zoned C-O, C-1 & C-1A (See
Illustration C):
Size 20 Square Feet + Bonus
Bonus Add ¼ SF of Area for every One Foot of
Building Frontage + ¼ SF of Area for
every One Foot of Building Setback
Max Size 200 Square Feet
For property zoned C-2 & M-1:
Size 30 Square Feet + Bonus
Bonus Add ¼ SF of Area for every One Foot of
Building Frontage + ¼ SF of Area for
every One Foot of Building Setback
Max Size 500 Square Feet
Max Size 60 SF Per Face/120 SF in C-2 & M-1
Zones
Number One Per Street
Frontage – Two Max
Height 8 Feet/10 Feet in C-2 & M-1 Zones; see
Section 3.2
Location Mid 1/3 of Street Frontage
Permit Required
District MF, CO, C-1, C-1A,
C-2 and M-1
14. Pole signs are allowed when there is a front yard of at least 20 feet and 100 feet
of street frontage and are in lieu of monument signs.
Max Size 120 Square Feet Per Face
Number One Per Street
Frontage – Two Max
Height 25 Feet; see Section 3.2
Location Mid 1/3 of Street Frontage
Permit Required
District C-2 & M-1
15. Joint use signs are required when more than one business shares a
common building or parking area. In these cases, each business cannot have
their own monument or pole sign but must share a common monument or pole sign
called a joint use sign. The requirements of the joint use sign are the
same as the monument sign and the pole sign except that the size and height can
be increased as follows:
For every five feet of street frontage over 100
feet, add one square foot of size and ¼ foot of height. (Please note that the frontage of one street
cannot be used for a sign on another street frontage). The new maximum size
and height would be as follows:
Max Size 250 SF Monument/200
SF Pole
Height 30 Feet for Monument & Pole; see Section
3.2
16. Highway pole signs are allowed for businesses zoned C-2 which have at least 100 feet of street frontage on U.S. Highway
81/287 or 380 Bypass. They are only allowed on the street frontage that is adjacent
to the highway and are in lieu of all other freestanding signs. Their size
depends on their height as follows:
The bottom of the sign must be a least 25 feet high.
At 30 feet high, the sign can be 140 square feet. For every one foot added in
height, two feet in area can be added to the following maximums:
Max Size 200 Square Feet Per Face
Height 60 Feet; see Section 3.2
17. Highway monument signs are allowed for businesses zoned C-2 which have at least 100 feet of street frontage on U.S. Highway
81/287 or 380 Bypass. They are only allowed on the street frontage that is
adjacent to the highway and are in lieu of all other freestanding signs.
Max Size 162 Square Feet Per Face
Height 15 Fee; see Section 3.2
18. Directional signs are limited to directional text or directional
graphics, such as, "Office", "Entrance", "Exit"
or "Parking” and can be either wall, monument or pole signs
Max Size 4 Square Feet
Number One Per Curb Cut/Unlimited for Interior
Height 3 Feet for Freestanding/10 Feet for Wall
Location Varies
Permit Required
District Multi-Family,
Commercial and Industrial
19. Subdivision entry signs are allowed for residential subdivisions that have
ten or more lots. These signs can be monument signs or can be attached to a decorative,
masonry fence or wall. All components of the sign, including wiring, lighting
and structure, must be on private property.
Max Size 10 Square Feet
Number Two Per Entry
20. Electronic message board sign are bonus signs that can be placed on pole signs (but
not highway pole signs) or monument signs. This sign is to be underneath
the main identification sign.
Max Size 30 Square Feet
Permit Required
District C-2 & M-1