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The highway commercial sign standards are hereby created and applied to all land as set forth below. Signs in this area are regulated to accommodate the mixed uses of the areas and the presence of major streets with high traffic volumes.

(1) Corresponding Zones. The provisions of this section apply to that property within the S-RP Riverfront Park Special Zone located within 200 feet of the Franklin Boulevard center line and to property within the C-1, C-2, C-3, or any employment and industrial zone with frontage along the following named streets:

(a) Beltline Road from 11th Avenue to Roosevelt Boulevard;

(b) Broadway from Mill Street to Franklin Boulevard;

(c) Coburg Road from 6th Avenue to 200 feet north of Frontier Drive;

(d) Franklin Boulevard east from Broadway, including the north-south segment;

(e) Garfield Street from 11th Avenue to 5th Avenue;

(f) Goodpasture Island Road from Valley River Drive to 1,700 feet north;

(g) Highway 99 North;

(h) I-5 on the south side only from Henderson Avenue to 300 feet north of Laurel Hill Drive;

(i) I-105 from the Coburg interchange to Scout Access Road;

(j) Mill Street from Broadway to Coburg Road;

(k) Railroad Boulevard;

(l) 6th Avenue east of conjunction with Highway 99 North;

(m) 7th Avenue east of conjunction with Highway 99 North; and

(n) 11th Avenue from 200 feet east of the centerline of Chambers Street to Terry Street.

(2) Permitted Sign Types. Signs allowed under the highway commercial sign standards shall be limited to the following types:

(a) Awning signs;

(b) Billboards;

(c) Digital Billboards;

(d) Digital Signs;

(e) Electronic message centers;

(f) Freestanding signs;

(g) Marquee signs;

(h) Projecting signs;

(i) Readerboards;

(j) Roof signs;

(k) Under-marquee signs; and

(l) Wall signs.

(3) Maximum Number of Signs. The highway signs standards shall have no limit on the number of signs permitted except that no freestanding or roof sign may be constructed within 200 feet of any other freestanding or roof sign on the development site, regardless of the number of street frontages.

(4) Maximum Sign Area. In addition to all other standards, the highway sign standards shall apply the following size limitations:

(a) Freestanding signs and roof signs shall not exceed 100 square feet in area for 1 face and 200 square feet for 2 or more faces.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision except (6)(c) of this section, the sum of the area of all billboards, awning signs, marquee signs, projecting signs, and wall signs located on a single development site where the highway sign standards apply shall be limited to 1 square foot times the length of the perimeter wall upon which the signs are located. If not located on a wall, the area of any billboard located on the development site shall be included in the total sign area attributed to that site.

(c) No awning, marquee, under-marquee, projecting or wall sign may exceed 100 square feet for any 1 face, and no awning, marquee or projecting sign may exceed 200 square feet for 2 or more faces.

(d) Notwithstanding the number of street frontages, no business occupant shall use more than 1000 square feet of sign surface area, including billboards, at any single development site.

(5) Maximum Height. All billboards, freestanding signs and roof signs shall be no more than 30 feet in height.

(6) Billboards. Billboards shall be subject to the following standards:

(a) Billboards located along the streets named in subsections (1)(b) through (1)(g) and (1)(j) through (1)(n) of this section shall not exceed 250 square feet in surface area.

(b) Billboards located on developed property along streets named in subsections (1)(a), (1)(h) and (1)(i) of this section shall not exceed 300 square feet in surface area.

(c) A billboard may be located on an otherwise vacant lot abutting any street designated in this section, provided that the billboard does not exceed the maximum size for billboards along such a street, and does not otherwise violate any provision of this land use code.

(d) Cutouts. The maximum allowable area of any billboard may be increased by a supplemental sign element no larger than 20 percent of the total surface area of the billboard. The additional sign element must be attached to the billboard and refer to or relate to the sign copy displayed on the face of the billboard.

(e) Billboard Locations. Billboards may be located only on property abutting a street designated for the location of billboards.

(f) Billboard Distances. Notwithstanding any other provision of the sign standards, no billboard may be located within 350 feet of another billboard where the billboards are located on the same side of the street. Further, no billboard may be located within 150 feet of another billboard when the billboards are located across the street. These distances between billboards shall be measured along the centerline of the street designated to be a location for billboards.

(g) Billboard Orientation. All billboards must be placed within 100 feet of a street designated for the location of billboards and must be oriented toward 1 of the directions of travel along the street designated for the location of billboards.

(h) Billboard Maximums. Notwithstanding any other provision of the sign standards, the total area of all billboard sign faces oriented in the same direction shall not exceed 1300 square feet in any one-half mile of street frontage designated for the location of billboards.

(i) Billboard Removal. The owner of a billboard shall provide the city written notice of the owner’s intent to remove a billboard not more than 60 days nor less than 30 days before the removal of the billboard.

1. The owner of a billboard who has notified the city of the owner’s intent to remove the billboard may submit an application for the construction of a replacement billboard. If the proposed replacement billboard is to be at any location within ½ mile of the location of the removed billboard, and if the application is submitted within 30 days of the date of the removal of the billboard, such application shall be given preference over any sign permit application previously submitted but not yet approved which would have an effect on the determination of the application for a replacement billboard.

2. If no such application is submitted by the owner of a billboard to be removed within 30 days after the billboard is removed, the city may grant a sign permit to any applicant, even if that permit precludes the replacement of the billboard.

(7) Digital Billboards. In addition to the standards in EC 9.6675(6), Digital Billboards shall be subject to the following standards. Where standards conflict, the standards for Digital Billboards in this subsection (7) shall control:

(a) Minimum spacing between digital billboards facing the same direction shall be 1,200 feet. For purposes of this subsection, “facing the same direction” means oriented within 60 degrees of the sign face of another digital billboard. The distance between digital billboards shall be measured along the centerline of the street designated to be a location for digital billboards.

(b) The change from one message to another message shall be no more frequent than once every 8 seconds.

(c) The change from one message to another message shall be instantaneous.

(d) Animation is not allowed.

(e) The digital billboard shall operate at an internal illumination intensity level of not more than 0.3 foot-candles over ambient light levels as measured from a distance of 150 feet perpendicular to the sign face.

(f) The digital billboard shall be equipped with a light sensor that automatically adjusts the intensity of the billboard according to the amount of ambient light.

(g) The digital billboard shall be designed to either freeze the display in one static position, display a full black screen or turn off in the event of a malfunction.

(h) Cutouts are not allowed.

(i) Notwithstanding EC 9.1230, legal nonconforming billboards may be removed and replaced by digital billboards if the location, area and height of the sign do not change and if the building permit is issued within 365 days of the 1st day of demolition. However, no digital billboard shall be larger than 300 square feet and all other standards in this section must be met.

(j) Digital billboards are allowed at the locations identified at EC 9.6675(1) except for (f) and (k).

(Section 9.6675, see chart at front of Chapter 9 for legislative history from 2/26/01 through 6/1/02; and administratively amended March 10, 2005; amended by Ordinance No. 20528, enacted May 14, 2014, effective June 23, 2014; and amended by Ordinance No. 20642, enacted October 12, 2020, effective November 20, 2020.)