Morrisville Unified Development Ordinance - April 2019

Article 5: Development Standards Section 5.16. Signage 5.16.1. Purpose

The model and height of ornamental street lights shall be as specified in the Administrative Manual.

SECTION 5.16. SIGNAGE

5.16.1. Purpose

The purpose of this section is to regulate and control signs to:

A. Encourage the use of signage as a means of visual communication; B. Safeguard vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic within streets by minimizing visual distractions to motorists and preventing obstruction of or interferences with traffic signs and signals; C. Preserve property values and community character by promoting quality design in signage and preventing unsightly signage and visual clutter; and

D. Minimize possible adverse impacts of signage on adjacent public and private properties.

5.16.2. Applicability

A. General

Except as exempted in subsection B below, no sign shall be erected, installed, constructed, altered, or moved except in accordance with the standards in this section.

B. Exemptions

The following signs are exempt from the signage regulations of this Ordinance:

Town, county, state, and federal traffic signs;

Historical markers, monuments, or signs erected by public authority;

Official notices or advertisements posted or displayed by or under the direction of any court official in the performance of his/her official or directed duties, or by trustees under deeds of trust or other similar instruments;

Signs denoting the location of underground utilities;

Signs approved by the Town Council for posting in association with municipal, county, state, or federal authorities for crime prevention and public safety and health;

Temporary signs advertising Town-sponsored events;

Warning signage affixed to tree protection fencing;

Flags or emblems of any political unit, government, civic, educational, or religious organization (though not regulated as signs, such flags are subject to the standards for accessory flags and flagpoles in Section 4.3.5.B.13, Flagpole and Flag); Political signs placed within the right-of-way of the State highway system subject to requirements and standards in Section 136-32 of the North Carolina General Statutes; and Signs denoting a product being sold out of a vending machine or self-service container that distributes the product by depositing money into the machine or container, or depositing such money with an attendant. C. Signs Not Requiring a Sign Permit The following signs are subject to this Ordinance’s signage standards, but are exempt from the requirement for a Sign Permit: A single non-illuminated temporary sign advertising the sale or lease of a dwelling on the same parcel, in residential districts only;

Morrisville, NC

April 23, 2019

Unified Development Ordinance

Page 5-151