Sign Variation
A permit is required for any person to construct, repair, alter or relocate any sign within the City. A permit is required to ensure that all signs within the City comply with the City’s sign regulations, which are intended to provide content-neutral standards and regulations to ensure public safety and to promote a positive City image.
The regulations control the design, illumination, location, maintenance and construction of all signs while at the same time respecting the first amendment rights of all citizens, merchants and property owners. The purpose of a sign variation is to relieve a particular hardship or difficulty the regulations impose upon a particular parcel or structure on which a sign is proposed to be located.
Such hardship would make compliance with the sign regulations extraordinarily difficult or impossible and would not be generally applicable to other properties in the same zoning district. The following variations from the sign regulations may be authorized:
- To increase the maximum allowable area of any sign;
- To increase the maximum allowable height of any freestanding sign;
- To increase by not more than one sign the maximum number of signs of any type otherwise allowed;
- To permit any wall sign, awning sign or canopy sign to be displayed on a secondary building facade;
- To vary the requirements established in Section 11-12-6D for electronic message board signs for regional, professional/semi-professional sports facilities, including event centers, arenas and sports stadiums.