17.80.070 Master sign plans.
Before a sign permit can be issued for any commercial multi-tenant building, a master sign plan shall be developed and approved by the city. Individual buildings on a single site may have separate master sign plans.
A. Required Contents of Master Sign Plans. Master sign plans shall indicate the amount and location of signage allocated to each tenant space. In addition, master sign plans shall specify from the following list of sign types which sign types are permitted on each building:
1. Individual pan-channel sign graphics – internally illuminated;
2. Individual sign graphics – silhouette lighting;
3. Individual cut-out sign graphics – no internal light source (e.g., wood, foam, brass);
4. Cabinet signs;
5. Sandblasted or carved wood signs;
6. Flat wood signs with hand-painted or vinyl graphics;
7. Neon signs;
8. Awning signs;
9. Fabric signs (e.g., banners);
10. Combination signs – signs which incorporate multiple sign types into one single sign in a specified or predetermined fashion (e.g., individual pan-channel sign graphics combined with internally illuminated logo shields or reader lines; cabinet signs with neon mounted to the sign face; wood carved signs combined with metal cut-out sign graphics);
11. Other. The director may approve other sign types which have specific and unique design characteristics which are visually distinct from other sign types described herein (e.g., mosaic signs, concrete formed signs, etc.).
B. Design Limitations. No more than one sign type may be used on any one building, except that up to two sign types plus one combination sign (as described in the above list) are permitted on a single building; provided, that no more than one sign type is used on any single wall plane; and provided, that the separate sign types used on one building have at least two of the following design elements in common with each other:
1. Common colors on the background or text;
2. Common lettering style;
3. Common size (e.g., a specified height common to each sign);
4. Common materials.
C. Sign Structure Color Requirements. Regardless of whether one or three sign types are specified, all sign cabinets, trim caps, returns and all sign supports such as poles and braces shall be of a common color.
D. Approval Process. Sign plans shall be approved through the site plan review process except that existing buildings may have sign plans approved administratively by the director. Owners, or owner’s designees, of all existing multi-tenant projects or buildings shall submit a master sign plan prior to issuance of any new sign permits for said buildings. The director may approve a master sign plan prepared by an owner or owner’s designee.
E. Amendment Procedures. Master sign plans shall be amended no more than once every five years, except that a plan may be amended more frequently if all signs approved under an existing master sign plan are in conformance, or are brought into conformance, with the provisions of the amended sign plan. (Ord. 1427 § 3, 2019).