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1989S32- AMENDING THE SIGN ORDINANCE ORDINANCE <6'9-5" 3 ~ BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS AMENDING THE SIGN ORDINANCE, NO. 86-S-28, ARTICLE II, GENERAL PROVISIONS, PARAGRAPH 4, ERECTION OF SIGN OR SIGN STRUCTURE AND PARAGRAPH 9, SIGNS WITH FLASHING, BLINKING OR TRAVELING LIGHTS; ARTICLE III, DEFINITIONS; ARTICLE VI, SIGNS PERMITTED IN ALL BUSINESS, COMMERCIAL AND MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS, SECTION 3, BANNERS, FLAGS, PENNANTS, SECTION 5c.(6l, AUXILIARY SIGNS AND SECTION 5m.(6l, BILLBOARD SETBACK; ARTICLE VIII, NON-CONFORMING SIGN ABATEMENT, PARAGRAPH 11, DATE OF COMPLIANCE; AND PROVIDING A REPEALING CLAUSE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS I THAT, Sign Ordinance 86-S-28 of the City of Schertz, Texas is hereby amended in the following manner: "ARTICLE II GENERAL PROVISIONS Paragraph 4 4. Except as herein provided, no person or business firm, acting either as principal or agent, shall erect any sign or sign structure until a sign permit for such work has been issued by the Building Official to a bonded contract or the owner or occupant of the premises where the work is to be done. Paragraph 9 Delete #9 and renumber paragraphs 10., 11., 12. and paragraphs 9., 10., 11. and 12. 13. to .. II ARTICLE III DEFINITIONS For the purpose of this ordinance, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations, shall have the meaning given herein. 1. Billboard: Any flat surface erected on a frameback or on any structure, or attached to posts and used for, as designed to be used for, the display of belts, posters or other advertising material for the purpose of advertising a business or activity not located on the same premises as the said advertising material. Mobile advertising, handcarried signs and political signs shall not be considered a billboard. 2. Building: A structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and designed or intended for the shelter, support, enclosure or protection of persons or chattels, except for tents and canopies. 3. Mall: Any concentration of retail stores and/or service establishments which share customer parking area and are located within an enclosure having public walkways, whereby a customer in one (1) store or establishment may walk to another store or establishment without leaving the enclosure. (Ord. 87-S-17, Aug. 18, 1987) 4. Shopping Center: Two (2) or more retail stores and/or service establishments, or one (1) retail store and one (1) service establishment, sharing customer parking area, and entrance ways, regardless of whether said stores and/or establishments occupy same or separate structures or are under separate ownership. (Ord. 87-S-17, Aug. 18, 1987) 5. Sign: Any words, numbers, figures, devices, designs, trademarks or other symbols which attract attention to or make known such things as an individual, firm, profession, business, commodity or service, and which are visible from any public street. This definition of "sign" shall include any structure designed to be used for said display. For the purpose of removal, "sign" shall also include sign supports. Sa. Sign, Abandoned: Any signs including off-premise signs unless owned and operated by a bona fide billboard company, which no 'longer correctly directs or exhorts any person or advertises a bona fide business lessor, owner, product, service or activity. -2- 5b. Sign, Advertising vehicle or Trailer: Any vehicle or trailer which has as it's basic purpose the advertisement of products or direction of people to a business or activity, whether located on or off-premise. 5c. Sign Area: The area of any free-standing sign or billboard shall be the sum of the areas enclosed by the minimum imaginary rectang 1 es, tr iang les or circ les which fully contain all extremeties of the sign, including the frame but excluding any supports. Sign area for all other signs shall be the sum of the area of the minimum imaginary rectangles, triangles or circles which fully contain all words, numbers, figures, devices, designs or trademarks by which anything is made known. To compute the allowable square footage of sign area, only one (1) side of a double face sign shall be considered. (Ord. 87- S-13, June 16, 1987) 5d. Sign, Auxiliary: Any sign indicating general information, such as pricing, trading stamps, credit cards, official notices or services required by law, trade associations, and signs giving directions to offices, rest rooms, exits and like facilities. 5e. Sign, Banner: with or without illustrations or or fabric of any Any sign intended to be hung either frames, possessing characters, letters, ornamentations applied to paper, plastic kind, supported by wire, rope or similar means. Sf. Sign, Bench: Any sign painted on or affixed to a bench normally used for seating, indoor or outdoor. 5g. Sign, Community Services: Any sign which solicits support for or advertises a non-profit community use, public use or social institution. Such signs may include, but shall not be limited to, seasonal holidays such as Christmas or Easter, school activities, charitable programs or religious activities. 5h. Sign, Damaged: Any sign which has become so deteriorated or dilapidated as to require more than minimal reconditioning to restore it to an average, normal state of repair. -3- 5i. Sign, Directory: A sign which indicates the name and/or address of the occupant, the address of the premises, and/or identification of any legal business or occupation which may exist at the premises. (Ord. 87-S-17, Aug. 18, 1987) 5j. Sign, Flag: National flags, political, professional, religious, educational or those of corporate organizations, providing such flags, emblems and insignia are displayed for non-commercial purposes. 5k. Sign, Free-Standing: A sign which is attached to or part of a completely self-supporting structure. The supporting structure shall be set firmly in or below the ground surface and shall not be attached to any building or any other structure whether portable or stationary. 51. Sign, Governmental: Any sign indicating public works projects, public service or other programs or activities conducted or required by any governmental subdivision. Sm. Sign Height: Sign height shall be the vertical distance between the highest part of the sign or it's supporting structure, whichever is higher, and the average established ground level beneath the sign. 5n. Sign, Pennant: A long, narrow, usually triangular flag composed primarily of cloth, paper, fabric or other similar non-rigid material. Used to announce grand openings and/or special events. 50. Sign, political: Any device announcing or promoting the candidacy of one or more persons for elective public office or concerning any political issue appearing, or which is to appear, on the ballot in any public election. 5p. Sign, Portable or Mobile: Any sign, excluding A- frame or sandwich-type signs, designed or constructed to be easily moved from one location to another, including signs mounted upon or designed to be mounted upon a trailer, wheel carrier or other non-motorized mobile structure. A portable sign which has it's wheels removed shall still be considered a portable sign hereunder; used for a short period of time to announce a special event or activity. Sq. Sign, Realty: Any sign used to advertise a real estate development site or to advertise that real estate is for sale or lease. -4- Sr. Sign, Roof: Any signs which are building roofs, except sloping roofs. affixed to 5s. Sign, setback: Sign setback shall be the horizontal distance between a sign and the front lot line, as measured from that part of the sign excluding it' s extremities and supports, nearest to any point on an imaginary vertical plane projecting from the front lot line. St. Sign Sloping: Any sign affixed to sloping roof. 5u. Sign, Streamer: A long, narrow strip of cloth, colored paper or ribbon used separately or with banners or pennants to announce grand openings and/or special events. 5v. Sign, Temporary Business Promotion: Any sign which is designed to produce revenue by advertising services, sales or other temporary promotional programs and which have limited duration not to exceed sixty (60) consecutive days. 5w. Sign, Wall: Any sign that shall be affixed parallel to the wall or printed on the wall of any building in such a manner as to read parallel to the wall on which it is mounted; provided, however, said wall sign shall not project above the top of the wall or beyond the end of the building. For the purpose of this definition, wall shall include window areas. 6. Variance: An exceptional condition which poses a practical difficulty or particular hardship in such a way as to prevent an owner from displaying his/her sign as intended by this Ordinance. Such practical difficulty must be clearly exhibited and must be a result of an external influence and not self-imposed. (Ord. 87-S-20, Sept. 15, 1987) 6a. Hardship: A condition that would resul t in the closing or eliminating of any lawful business not created by personal difficulties of the owner. (Ord. 87-s-20, Sept. 15, 1987) 7. Visibility Triangle: Triangle sight area would be from the corner of converging streets to a distance of twenty-five (25') feet along each street with the triangle completed by drawing a line through the property from both twenty-five (25') foot street setbacks. -5- III ARTICLE VI SIGNS PERMITTED IN ALL BUSINESS, COMMERCIAL AND MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS Section 3 Banners, Flags, Pennants 3a. Banners bearing advertising matter shall be considered an adjunct to wall or free-standing signs. For the purpose of mounting, they shall meet all regulations pertaining thereto. 3b. Pennants and streamers are permitted for use in conjunction with banners for the announcement of a grand opening of a business and/or special event. 3c. Any banners, pennants or streamers found to be obsolete or in need of repair will promptly be brought to the attention of the owner. The sign(s) will be removed or repaired within 10 days of the date of the written notice. 3d. cloth banner s~gns without frame across street right-of-way provided commercial nature, not for private banners shall be at least fourteen street grade. Permit required. may project over and they are of a non- profit events. The (14') feet from the 3e. National and/or state flags are permitted. Flags which show an emblem or logo of a firm or corporation are permitted. No flag shall exceed thirty-two (32) square feet, and the top of the pole will not exceed twenty-five (25') feet in height from the ground. Permit required for the construction of a flag pole. Section 5 Free-Standing Signs 5c.(6) Auxiliary signs shall be permitted. 5m.(6) Billboards shall be set back at least fifty (50') feet from the property line. -6- IV ARTICLE VIII NON-CONFORMING SIGN ABATEMENT Paragraph 11 11. All signs not covered by this Ordinance shall become non- conforming. Said signs shall be brought into compliance by al teration or removal by Jan. 1, 1995 unless the height, area, location or supports of an existing sign are altered, in which case the sign shall be brought into compliance at the time of alteration. Nothing in this Section shall prevent the removal of damaged or abandoned signs under ARTICLE VII or the termination of non-conforming use." V Repeal of Conflicting Ordinances or Orders. All orders, ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with this Ordinance or inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent necessary to give this Ordinance full force and effect. -7- " ,.' Passed, . approved and adopted on first reading the 1..2 day of n;:li-(r-<-n. ,19~. PAS~D, APPROVED AND ~f~ ~ 19~. ADOPTED this the ? day of d~ Mayor, city of Schertz, Texas ATTEST: y (CITY SEAL) -8- September 14, 1989 TO: CITY COUNCIL FROM: PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION '. SUBJECT: PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SIGN ORDINANCE The Planning and Zoning Commission, by unanimous vote, recommends approval of the attached amendment to the Sign Ordinance: (1) Article II General Provisions Para. 4, Erection of Sign or Sign Structure Para. 9, Signs with Flashing, Blinking or Traveling Lights (2) Article III Definitions (3) Article VI Signs Permitted in All Business, Commercial and Manufacturing Districts Sec. 3, Banners, Flags, Pennants Sec. 5c.(6) Auxiliary Signs Sec. 5m.(6) Billboard Setback (4) Article VIII Non-Conforming Sign Abatement Para. 11, Date of Compliance 11, Chairman & oning Commission TB/na Attch.