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The City of St. Joseph's Unconstitutional Sign Ordinances:
To read the ordinances for yourself, click here. Sign ordinances start on page 88.
Section 31-111 (page 89) states that "All signs not expressly permitted by this sign code or exempt hereunder are prohibited."
Section 31-115 (page 93) defines which signs are exempt from needing a permit from the city. Subsection (3) is as follows:
"(3) Noncommercial signs in residential zoning districts, including but not limited to political, religious and social commentary signs and personal emblems, provided that only one such sign shall be allowed per property. Such signs shall be no greater than 12 square feet in area and may be free standing or attached flat against a wall so long as they are not painted directly on a structure;"
NOTE 1: The city told me that they "interpret" the above to mean that only one sign PER CANDIDATE is allowed per property. Are they making up the laws as they go???
NOTE 2: The city told me that the rule is 12 square feet in residential areas, and 30 square feet in non-residential areas...
Section 31-115, subsection (5) states that:
"(5) Signs advertising temporary
activity on the property such as sale, rent or lease of the property;
construction; grand openings; garage and yard sales; and special events and
which meet the following requirements:
a. One sign shall be permitted on the property at any one time and shall be
removed within 48-hours following the end of the temporary activity or event.
b. May be either installed flat against a structure or affixed in the ground as
a freestanding sign.
c. In residential zoning districts, the maximum size shall be nine square feet.
d. In nonresidential zoning
districts, the maximum size shall be 30 square feet.
e. Garage sale signs for residences, permitted for four consecutive days only,
provided the sale has a garage
sale permit and that garage sales are held no more than two times in any 12
month period for any particular property."
NOTE 3: It should be obvious that subsection (5) does NOT apply to political signs, as they do not advertise temporary activity on a property.
Section 31-130 allows for residential districts to have "development identification" signs that can be 20 square feet in size.
The rest of the sign ordinances do not expressly permit political signs on non-residential property. Section 31-130 lists the signs permitted in non-residential districts as follows:
"(c) Signs
permitted in non-residential zoning districts: The following signs are permitted
in all commercial, planned business and industrial zones subject to meeting the
specified standards and issuance of a sign permit. Table II (see page 108)
summarizes these regulations.
(1) Wall and projecting signs.
a. The total sign area is limited to 10% of the facade on which the sign(s)
is/are located computed against the first 20 feet in building height.
b. Awning signs shall count toward the total limitation of 10% of wall signage.
c. For buildings closer to the street right-of-way than 20 feet, one projecting
sign may be installed in addition to the wall sign, but the combined area of
both signs shall be no greater than 10% of the façade to which they are mounted
computed against the lowest 20 feet in building height. No projecting sign shall
be permitted when a freestanding sign is installed on the property.
(2) Freestanding signs.
a. One freestanding sign is permitted for each parcel. Parcels with more than
100 feet of frontage shall be permitted a second freestanding sign.
b. Drive through businesses shall be permitted one menu board sign. A menu board
sign shall not be oriented to a public right-of-way.
c. Freestanding directional signs not exceeding six square feet in area shall be
permitted.
d. No freestanding signs other than freestanding directional signs shall be
permitted when a projecting sign is installed on the property.
e. The sign area for each freestanding sign, except menu board and directional
signs, may be 100 square feet. Additional square feet may be added as follows,
provided the leading edge of the freestanding sign is set back farther than the
minimum one foot requirement. Where two freestanding signs are used, the sign
area for each sign may be increased as follows when both signs meet the
necessary setback restrictions. Increased Additional Distance square
footage
2-4 feet 12 sq. ft.
5-8 feet 24 sq. ft.
9-12 feet 36 sq. ft.
13-16 feet 48 sq. ft.
17-20 feet 60 sq. ft.
greater than 20 feet 72 sq. ft.
One of the permitted freestanding signs may be a multi-tenant sign.
f. The square footage of the multitenant sign may be increased by 16 square feet
for each additional tenant over the first, with a maximum of 600 square feet.
g. In calculating the maximum square footage for multi-tenant signs, the
additional square footage permitted for a greater setback as allowed in
Subsection (e) above shall be added to the square footage allowed in Subsection
(f) above.
h. No freestanding sign greater than three feet high or less than ten feet from
the bottom of the sign shall be located in a street intersection sight
visibility triangle or a driveway intersection sight visibility triangle as
defined in “Appendix: Intersection Visibility Triangles”, on page 113."
CONCLUSIONS:
1. The sign ordinances are unconstitutional in the following ways:
A. They only allow one political sign per residential lot.
B. They do not allow for political signs on non-residential lots.
C. They allow bigger signs for non-political purposes than for political purposes, thus unduly restricting on the basis of content.
2. The City is abusing it's power in the following ways:
A. It is "interpreting" the words "one sign per lot" to mean "one sign per candidate per lot".
B. It is telling people that political signs in non-residential areas are limited to 30 square feet. That is not what the ordinances say.
C. It is only enforcing the law when there is a complaint generated. This has the effect of selective enforcement, with enforcement based upon a complaint by a person with an axe to grind, and not by an impartial third party (the city).