1. To encourage signs that help to visually organize the activities of the city, lend order and meaning to business identification, and make it easier for the public and delivery services to identify and locate their destinations;

2. To encourage a positive business atmosphere;

3. To implement the urban design goals and policies of the city established in Chapter 2 of the Midvale City General Plan;

4. To improve the visual quality of thoroughfares and eliminate visual clutter by limiting the types and display periods of temporary signs;

5. To minimize unnecessary distractions to motorists, protect pedestrians, and provide safe working conditions for those persons who are required to install, maintain, repair, or remove signs;

6. To eliminate the visual degradation imposed by billboards due to excessive height and copy areas through the city-wide prohibition of such signs; and

7. To assure that all signs, in terms of size, scale, height, and location, are compatible with adjacent land uses and with the size of development that they serve.

1. It is not the intent of this section to regulate the message content of signs or to regulate signs that are not visible to the general public.

2. In interpreting the provisions contained in this section, such provisions shall be considered the minimum standards which are necessary to accomplish the purposes described above.

1. Signs of a governmental nature for the control of traffic and other regulatory purposes such as street signs, danger signs, railroad crossing signs and signs of public service companies indicating danger and aids to service or safety;

2. Signs which are associated with public and quasi-public organization functions which are clearly of a temporary nature;

3. Interior signs;

4. Flags, emblems, or insignias of any nation or political subdivision;

5. Signs not exceeding one square foot in area and bearing only property numbers, post box numbers or names of occupants of premises;

6. Legal notices, identification information, or directional signs erected by governmental bodies;

7. Commemorative plaques of recognized historical agencies, or identification emblems or symbols of religious orders; provided, that no such plaque, symbol or identification emblem exceeds three square feet in area, and such that the plaque, symbol or emblem be placed flat against a building; and

8. Existing signage which has been previously approved shall not be required to comply with this chapter insofar as the initial installation is concerned. All other requirements are in force.

1. The name, address and telephone number of the owner or persons entitled to possession of the sign or control of the same and of the sign contractor or erector;

2. The location by street address of the proposed sign structure;

3. A site plan and elevation drawings of the proposed sign, caption of the proposed sign and elevations of building facades if the application is for a wall sign. The site plan shall include the proposed location of the sign in relation to the face of the building or to the boundaries of the lot on which it is situated;

4. Plans indicating the scope and structural detail of the work to be done, including details of all connections, guy lines, supports and footings, and materials to be used, stamped by a professional engineer licensed in the state;

5. Application for, and required information for such application, an electrical permit for all electric signs if the person building the sign is to make the electrical connection; and

6. A statement of sign value as personal property.

1. Lot Frontage. If more than one use or business occupies a lot, the lot frontage is to be used to calculate the sign sizes for a combined total of a ground or projecting sign, not for each use. The total may then be divided between the uses.

2. Flat or Wall Signs. There may be any number of flat or wall signs, provided their total does not exceed the maximum percentage of wall area coverage allowed.

1. At intersecting streets and within the clear view area, there shall be no signs allowed, unless a sign is less than three feet in height as measured from the average grade of the intersecting streets.

2. For signs over pedestrian ways, the clearance between the ground and the bottom of any projecting or ground sign shall not be less than eight feet.

3. For signs over driveways for vehicular traffic, the minimum clearance shall be fourteen feet.

4. For signs more than three feet in height and having less than an eight-foot clearance, the front setback shall be the same as for buildings in that zoning district. In no case shall the front setback be less than eighteen inches from the front property line as measured from the leading edge of the sign.

1. Clear View. At intersecting streets, all signs shall be located outside of the clear view area.

2. Setbacks. Ground signs must be set back at least three feet from a public sidewalk or property line.

1. The changing of the advertising copy or message of signs specifically designed for the use of replaceable copy;

2. Electrical maintenance, repainting, or cleaning maintenance of a sign;

3. The repair of a sign;

4. Real estate signs no larger than six square feet;

5. Campaign signs no larger than sixteen square feet; and

6. Name plate signs.

1. The applicant must submit a complete application in accordance with subsection (F) of this section and comply with the other requirements of the Midvale City Code.

2. The sign must be located along I-15, 900 East/Husky Highway or State Street.

3. The electronic display may only use light emitting diode (LED) displays, or a similar technology approved by the planning and zoning department.

4. A changeable message sign face that utilizes lighting technologies (such as light emitting diodes) to create changeable messages shall be equipped with a light sensor that automatically adjusts the illuminance of the changeable message sign face as ambient lighting changes.

5. The interval between message changes on an electronic display shall not be more frequent than eight seconds and the actual message rotation process must be accomplished in one-quarter second or less.

6. Electronic display sign faces which contain, include, or are illuminated by any flashing, intermittent, full motion video, scrolling, strobing, racing, blinking, changes in color, fade in or fade out or any other imitation of movement or motion, or any other means not providing constant illumination are prohibited.

7. Off-premises signs that are within six hundred linear feet along State Street or 900 East and five hundred linear feet along I-15, as measured along the same side of the right-of-way as an off-premises sign that has been upgraded to include an electronic display, do not qualify to be upgraded.

8. Only one sign face of the same “layered” off-premises sign(s) (i.e., two or more off-premises signs mounted in vertical tiers on the same support structure, so that such sign faces are effectively visible at the same time from any vantage point, as reasonably determined by the city) may be upgraded to include an electronic display.

9. Only one sign face of the same “side-by-side” off-premises sign(s) (i.e., two or more off-premises signs mounted horizontally on the same support structure, so that such sign faces are effectively visible at the same time from any vantage point, as reasonably determined by the city) may be upgraded to include an electronic display.

10. Both faces of a double-sided off-premises sign, facing opposite directions (i.e., mounted back-to-back on the same support structure, so that such sign faces are not visible at the same time from any vantage point), qualify to be upgraded to electronic displays.

11. The text, images and graphics of the sign shall be static and complete within themselves, without continuation in content to the next image or message or to any other sign.

12. In no event shall an electronic display sign face increase the nighttime ambient illumination when replacing an existing illuminated billboard face and in no event shall an electronic display sign face, replacing a nonilluminated billboard face, increase nighttime ambient illumination by more than 0.3 foot-candles. In both instances, this measurement will be determined when measured perpendicular to the electronic display sign face at a distance based on the sign face size in accordance with the following formula:

13. The applicant shall certify its compliance with the above illuminance within a week of operating the electronic display and shall produce a copy of the certification upon request.

14. Any off-premises sign face upgraded under this subsection (O) to a sign located within three hundred fifty feet and oriented toward a legally occupied residential dwelling, measured from the electronic display face to the residential dwelling, shall be required to adhere to a curfew as described below:

15. No off-premises sign located within a residential (SF-1, SF-2, RM-12, RM-25) or historic zoning (HC) district shall be upgraded to include an electronic display.

16. An upgrade may not increase the height or the size of the display area of the sign.

17. This subsection (O) does not authorize the location of a new off-premises sign in a location not permitted or allowed under the existing and applicable ordinances. (Ord. 2014-03 § 1 (Att. A); Ord. 5/1/2007O-5 § 1 (part); Ord. 11/23/2004O-34 § 1(1); Ord. 12-11-2001C § 2 (part))