HomeMy Public PortalAbout1978_04_12_O008TOWN OF LEESBURG
IN
LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA
PRESENTED February 22, 1978
ORDINANCE NO. 78-0-8
ADOPTED April 12, 1978
AN ORDINANCE: AMENDING CHAPTER 16 OF THE TOWN CODE
BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Leesburg,
Virginia, as follows:
SECTION I. Article II, Chapter 16 of the Town Code shall
be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE II.
PROJECTIONS OVER STREET RIGHTS-OF-WAY
Sec. 16-27. Permit required; compliance with Article
Except as otherwise provided, it shall be unlawful for
any person to erect or maintain any street graphics, awning,
canopy, balcony or any object projecting over any public
right-of-way of the Town, until and unless a permit therefor
shall have first been obtained from the town manager, and
then only under the terms and conditions as set forth
in this Article.
A permit shall not be required for the following
graphics or actions, provided such graphics shall be
subject to all other provisions of this Article.
a. Repainting of graphics without changing wording,
composition, or colors;
b. Relocation of graphics as required by the Town;
c. Ail exempt graphics.
Sec. 16-28. Permit applicati'ons and plans.
A projection permit may be obtained upon application
and payment of the required fee to the town manager on
forms prescribed by him. Applications shall include plans
of the proposed projection with its size, shape, height,
location, letter style, lighting, color, construction and
materials and specifications detailed thereon. If the
proposed projection is to be located within a historic
conservation district, a certificate of appropriateness
shall be issued by the Board of Architectural Review prior to
the issuance of a permit by the town manager.
Sec. 16-29. Permit Fees.
The fees for permits under this Article, to be col-
lected by the town manager before the issuance of a per-
mit for any new projection over any public right-of-way,
are as follows:
Buildings or parts thereof
Graphics
$25.00
15.00
Sec. 16-30. Liability for Damage.
The provisions of this Article shall not be construed
to relieve or to limit in any way the responsibility or
liability of any person who owns or erects any projecting
object for personal injury or property damage caused by
the projecting object; nor shall the provisions of this
Article be construed to impose upon the town, its officers
and its employees any responsibility or liability by reason
of the approval of any projecting object under the provi-
sions of this Article.
Sec. 16-31. Abandoned Street Graphics.
Any person who owns a graphic shall remove the legend
from it within 30 days after the activity it advertises is
no longer conducted and remove the graphic within six months
after the activity it advertises is no longer conducted.
Sec. 16-32. Unlawful Projections.
Except as provided herein, any projecting object pre-
viously or hereafter erected or maintained in violation of
this Article shall be removed by the owner within ten days
after receipt of written notification from the town manager.
If the owner fails to remove the object within the time
specified, the town manager shall have the object removed
and the owner shall pay the town for expenses incurred.
Sec. 16-33. Exemptions.
(a)
Graphics of a public non-commercial nature, in-
cluding safety signs, danger signs, and trespas-
sing signs, signs indicating scenic or historical
points of interest, and any other official sign
provided it is erected by a public officer in the
performance of a public duty are exempt from this
Article.
(b)
Wall display cases, awnings, canopies, balconies,
marquees and buildings or parts of buildings exist-
ing at the time of enactment of this Article are
exempt from provisions of this Article except Sec.
16-34 below.
Sec. 16-33 contd
(c)
Graphics existing at the time of enactment of
this Article are exempt from permit fee require-
ments, Sec. 16-32 and Sec. 16-35, provided:
(1)
(2)
(3)
The requirements of Sec. 16-28 are met.
The graphic shall have been in place for
at least 25 years.
The graphic shall be designated a classic by
the Board of Architectural Review and shall
have unusual style, aesthetic qualities,
or other distinctive characteristics ren-
dering it unique among graphics.
Sec. 16-34. Maintenance Requirements.
All projections together with all their supports,
braces, hooks, guys and anchors shall be of substantial
and sturdy construction, shall be kept in good repair,
and shall be painted or cleaned as often as necessary to
maintain clean, neat, safe and orderly appearance.
Sec. 16-35.
Street Graphics Prohibitions and General
Requirements.
No street graphic shall be constructed, reconstructed,
erected, relocated or maintained which:
(a) Prevents free ingress or egress from any door,
window or fire escape;
(b) Covers or intrudes upon any architectural features
of a building such as windows, columns, moldings
or any major decoration;
(c) Obstructs free and clear vision or distracts the
attention of the driver of any vehicle by reason
of its position, shape, color, reflection or il-
lumination;
(d) Bears or contains statements, words or pictures of
an obscene, indecent or immoral character, which
will offend public morals or decency;
(e) Advertises or publicizes an activity, business,
product or service not conducted on the premises
adjacent to the public right-of-way upon which
such graphics are maintained;
(f) Is in any way animated; emits smoke, visible vapors,
particles, sound or odor;
(g) Is portable or fixed on a movable stand,
(h) Is located on a utility pole, tree or rock;
Sec. 16-35.
Contd.
(i)
(j)
(k)
(1)
(m)
Is not hung from brackets, not attached flat
against the building or not painted upon the
surface of an existing building;
Projects, in whole or in part, from the right-
of-way line over a right-of-way more than three
and one-half feet, except seasonal decorations,
existing awnings, canopies and marquees;
Is a time-temperature device or a reader board;
Is illuminated with any color light other than
white light and which source of light is visible
from a pedestrian level;
Is internally illuminated;
Sec. 16-36. Permitted Projections.
Subject to the provisions of this Article, the following
projections and street graphics are permitted to be placed
over street rights-of-way.
(a) Architectural features of buildings such as
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
cornices, eaves and bay windows;
Window plant boxes and mail boxes;
Wall graphics;
Projecting graphics;
Temporary window graphics;
Seasonal decorations.
Sec. 16-37. Specific Requirements for permitted projections.
Permitted projections and street graphics may be placed
over street rights-of-way only in the following manner:
(a) Architectural features, including gutters and
downspouts, window plant boxes and mail boxes
may project not more than 12 inches.
(b) The combined area and number of wall graphics and
projecting graphics shall not exceed the limits per
building as specified by any other ordinance of the
town;
(c) Wall graphics for any activity conducted on the
premises may be displayed by attachment flat to
the wall;
(d) One graphic per street entrance into a building
may announce activities conducted on the premises,
may project not more than three and one-half feet,
shall have a minimum clearance of nine feet above
the sidewalk, shall not exceed 10 square feet in
area and shall project perpendicularly from the
building wall, provided the total area of all pro-
jecting graphics shall not exceed in area 10 square
feet plus one square foot for each four lineal feet
of building frontage.
Sec. 16-37. Contd.
(e) Projecting graphics shall be located no higher
than the sill of a second floor window or
14 feet above the sidewalk, whichever is less,
except however, if the Board of Architectural
Review deems a projecting graphic appropriate
in a higher or lower location, the town manager
may permit such exception;
(f) Temporary window graphics for all activities
shall occupy not more than 25 percent of the
area of the window in which such graphics are
displayed and shall not remain in place for more
than eight weeks;
(g) Seasonal decorations shall be permitted for dis-
play purposes by a civic organization or
governmental agency with no fee charged provided
a plan for the location of such decorations is
submitted to the town manager at least two weeks
prior to the date that the decorations are
proposed to be placed. Such plan shall show
that Sec. 16-35 of this Article will be complied
with.
Sec ' 16-38 D~efinitions.
For the purpose of this Article, certain terms and
words are defined as follows:
Animated Graphics:
(a) Movement of a sign body or any segment thereof
such as rotating, revolving, moving up or down
or any other type of action involving a change
of position of a sign body or segment thereof,
whether caused by mechanical illusion or other
means;
(b) Lighted sign on an intermittent or flashing
circuit or the movement of any light used in
connection with any sign such as blinking,
traveling, flaring or changing degree of
intensity.
EaVes: The projecting overhang at the lower edge of a roof.
Front or FrOntage: Surfaces of any building or facility
that present themselves to a public right-of-way
giving immediate access to the premises.
Graphics: Any device used for visual corf~Lunication, in-
cluding signs.
Sec. 16-38. Contd.
Indirect Lighting: The use of fluorescent, and other
~apor light, or incadescent lighting set apart from,
but directed towards the surface of the street graphic.
Interior Lighting: The use of fluorescent, and other vapor
light, or incandescent lighting to illuminate a street
graphic from behind the lettering or from inside the
graphic structure.
Marquees, Canopies~ Awnings:
temporary, or portable
entrances and windows,
Various forms of permanent
roof-like coverings for
Projecting Graphic: A graphic attached to a building or
other structure and extending from the building wall
or structure.
Reader Board: A graphic with movable characters for a
temporary message.
Sign: Any device employing letters, words, symbols, etc.
used or intended to attract the attention of the public
from streets, sidewalks or other outside public areas.
(See street graphics.)
Street Graphic: Every sign, bulletin board, ground sign,
wall and roof sign, reader board, window sign,
illuminated sign, projecting sign, official sign,
including any letter, word, number, logo, symbol, or
combination thereof; model, mural, decoration, banner,
flag, pennant, clock, thermometer, insignia, light or
combination of lights, used or placed as an announce-
ment or declaration to identify, advertise or promote
the interest of any person, place, product, or corporation
when the same is placed in view of the general public
from outside the structure, including interior
window signs on which it is placed.
Wall Graphic: A sign attached to, painted on, or erected
against a wall or flat vertical surface of a
structure with the exposed face of the sign on a
plane parallel to the face of said vertical surface.
Window ~Graphics: Ail signs attached to or applied directly
onto the internal or external surface, or set back
less than one foot from the interior surface, of any
window in view of the general public from outside
the structure.
Section II. This ordinance shal!~ be effective May 1, 1978.
PASSED thisl2th day of
April , 1978
ATTEST:
Clerk of ~uncil
~ary Ahne Newman, Mayor
Town of Leesburg