§ 18.42.010 — Purpose and Applicability

A. Purpose. The purpose of this Chapter is to establish sign regulations that are consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the General Plan, maintain the City’s visual and aesthetic quality, provide adequate identification for uses and activities and improve wayfinding. The City recognizes that signs are an essential element of a community’s visual appearance and provide a means to identify places and promote commerce, provide useful information to the public, and should not become visual distractions along public roadways. These regulations are intended to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. In addition, these regulations are intended to: 1. Encourage consolidation of signs to reduce visual clutter. 2. Promote signs that are attractive, pleasing, and harmonized with the physical character of the structure and environment of surrounding properties. 3. Promote economically stable and visually attractive places in the City. 4. Prevent an inadvertent favoring of commercial speech over noncommercial speech or favoring of any particular noncommercial message over any other noncommercial message. 5. Encourage excellence of design. 6. Improve traffic safety and the smooth and efficient flow of pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles to their destinations. 7. Direct persons to various activities and enterprises, to provide maximum public convenience. B. Applicability. It is unlawful to post, erect, re-erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, improve, remove, convert, or equip any sign or sign structure, or paint a new sign, in the City, or cause or permit the same to be done, contrary to or in violation of any of the provisions of this Chapter. Properties located within an area governed by a specific plan are subject to regulations in this Chapter. The provisions of this Chapter shall apply only to the extent the specific or master plan does not regulate a particular sign or provide a standard or regulation and is not in conflict with the provisions of the plan. C. Maximum Allowed Sign Area. All signs allowed by this Chapter shall be countable toward the maximum allowed sign area unless stated otherwise in this Chapter.