Ocean Beach Sign Enhancement District
San Diego Municipal Code § 142.1291
in effect§142.1291 Ocean Beach Sign Enhancement District
(a) Purpose of the Ocean Beach Sign Enhancement District
It is the purpose of the Ocean Beach Sign Enhancement District to maintain, preserve, and promote the distinctive commercial signage of the Ocean Beach area and to regulate identification of commercial enterprises within the Ocean Beach community’s Newport Avenue commercial core area. Signs in the commercial core area shall reflect the goals of the Ocean Beach Community Plan and Commercial Improvement Program. It is the intent of the Ocean Beach Sign Enhancement District to acknowledge and preserve design elements of the area’s initial major period of development during the decades of the 1920’s to 1940’s. Neon tubing and other design elements that reference this era are encouraged, if feasible, as elements in new or renovated signs. In addition to those types of signs currently permitted by the Sign Regulations, Category C, as set forth in Chapter 14, Article 2, Division 12, certain additional types of signs are specifically permitted and other additional types of signs are specifically prohibited in the Ocean Beach Sign Enhancement District, as set forth in this section.
(b) Boundaries The boundaries of the Ocean Beach Sign Enhancement District are designated as those boundaries set forth for the Pedestrian Commercial Overlay Zone in Ocean Beach on that certain Map No.C-747; and that certain Map No. C-772, Maps “A” and “B”; and on file in the office of City Clerk under Document No. 769627 and Document No. 272788, respectively.
(c) Signs
The following types of signs are permitted in addition to those types of signs permitted by Chapter 14, Article 2, Division 12, Sign Regulations Category C. Permitted signs shall be maintained or erected in conformance with all applicable building regulations in Municipal Code Chapter 9, Article 1, and the regulations concerning total permitted sign area as determined by the applicable sections of the Sign Regulations. Those existing signs permitted by subsection (1) of this section are hereby exempted from the total permitted sign area regulations noted in subsections (2), (3) and (4) of this section and from the total permitted signage area regulations permitted by the Sign Regulations.
(1) Existing projecting signs that extend above the roof line are permitted, if installed before the adoption to the City-Wide Sign Ordinance on March 6, 1973. Retention of one such sign per 50 feet of street frontage is permitted, subject to all applicable regulations set forth in Chapter 14, Article 2, Division 12. No other projecting signs (those provided by subsections (2), (3), and (4) following) are permitted with the retention of an existing projecting sign extending above the roof line.
(2) Projecting signs not extending above the roof line and located between 9 feet above sidewalk to 15 feet above sidewalk, limited to one such projecting sign per 50 feet street frontage, and may not exceed a maximum of four square feet per sign face.
(3) Individual letter signs, free-standing on a ledge or canopy, located between 9 feet above sidewalk to 15 feet above sidewalk, and limited to eight square feet in area, and shall not exceed a maximum of 12 inches projected from the building wall.
(4) Three-dimensional iconographical signs, such as barber poles, limited to one such iconographical sign per 50 feet frontage and shall not exceed a maximum of 18 inches projected from the building wall and a maximum of four square feet in cross-section. The term “iconographical,” as used in this section, shall refer to incidental signs not containing text.
(d) Design Requirements
The use of backlighted or indirectly illuminated faces for those signs permitted by subsections (c)(2), (c)(3), and (c)(4) of this section and for all permanent freestanding signs, shall be prohibited, with the exception of those signs which incorporate one or both of the following elements in their design: exposed neon tubing; or backlighted opaque-facing.
(e) Abatement
All signs are subject to the abatement procedures as set forth in Chapter 12, Article 1, Division 5, (Sign Violations and Enforcement Procedures), except that those signs specifically prohibited in this district and typically allowed in the Sign Regulations, which are not in compliance with this section shall not be subject to abatement.
(Added 12-9-1997 by O-18451 N.S.; effective 1-1-2000; amended 6-19-2000 by O-18814 N.S.)
(Amended 3-1-2006 by O-19468 N.S.; effective 4-1-2006.)
Source: City of San Diego Office of the City Clerk, San Diego Municipal Code and City Charter (docs.sandiego.gov PDFs)URL: https://docs.sandiego.gov/municode/MuniCodeChapter14/Ch14Art02Division12.pdf#page=66Fetched: 10/28/2026