AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
VARIOUS SECTIONS THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE VILLAGE OF VERNON HILLS, CHAPTER
19 – SIGNS, RELATING TO BUILDING-MOUNTED SIGNS, RECOGNIZED TESTING AGENCIES,
AND PENALTIES.
WHEREAS, the President and the Board
of Trustees of the Village of Vernon Hills is authorized to prescribe the legal
framework for the comprehensive and balanced display of exterior signage
throughout the Village of Vernon Hills; and
WHEREAS, in the legislative judgment of the President and Board
of Trustees found that in order to protect the physical appearance of the
Village and to assure the compatibility of exterior signage with surrounding
land uses, regulations are needed to facilitate easy and pleasant communication
between the general public and sign users who promote their goods, services, or
property; and
WHEREAS, the President and Board of Trustees, being fully appraised of the
various definitions, standards, and circumstances used by various entities to
promote their goods, services, or property, found that in its judgment, would
justify it in approving an ordinance amendment to clarify certain provisions of
the existing sign ordinance; and
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE
OF VERNON HILLS, LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION I. That Chapter
19, Section 19-3(c)(6)(a) of the Village of Vernon Hills Code of Ordinances, is
repealed and in its place is approved to read as follows.
(a) Building-mounted signs. Except
as provided below, a single flat wall sign may be located on the building wall,
fascia, or canopy (marquee). Signs shall not project perpendicularly from the
building or project above the roofline. Under-canopy, identity, or directional
signs shall not exceed three square feet.
Total sign area: one square foot of sign area is permitted for each
lineal foot of building frontage with the maximum total sign area not to exceed
150 square feet. Buildings set back a distance of 250 feet or more from the
public street shall be permitted a wall sign calculated in accordance with the
aforementioned formula or up to three percent of the total building face,
whichever is greater. Where two or more tenants occupy the same building and
have separate building entrances, each tenant is entitled to a building-mounted
sign. Said signs shall be the same or similar in size, letter style, and color
so to present a compatible appearance to the general public.
Exception:
Building-mounted signs are prohibited on single and multi-tenant office
buildings.
SECTION II. That Chapter
19, Section 19-3(c)(8)(a) of the Village of Vernon Hills Code of Ordinances, is
repealed and in its place is approved to read as follows.
(a)
All signs shall comply with the construction
standards of the most recent adopted edition of the International Building Code
and the National Electric Code. All internally illuminated signs shall be
listed by a nationally recognized testing lab.
SECTION III. That Chapter
19, Section 19-8(h) of the Village of Vernon Hills Code of Ordinances, is
repealed and in its place is approved to read as follows.
(h) No exposed gas-filled discharge tubing
(neon or similar) shall be used on the exterior surface of any sign or be
visible through a sign face. All
internally illuminated gas-filled discharge tubing signs
shall be listed by a nationally recognized testing lab.
SECTION IV. That Chapter
19, Section 19-12 of the Village of Vernon Hills Code of Ordinances, is
repealed and in its place is approved to read as follows.
Sec.
19-12. Penalties.
Any person guilty of violating any of the provisions
of this chapter shall be fined not less than one hundred $100 nor more than one
thousand $1000 for each offense, and each separate day upon which each
violation exists shall continue a separate offense.
SECTION V. Severability. In the event that any section, clause, provision, or part of
this ordinance shall be found and determined to be invalid by a court of
competent jurisdiction, all valid parts that are severable from the invalid
parts shall remain in full force and effect.
If any part of this ordinance is found to be invalid in any one or more
of its several applications, all valid applications that are severable from the
invalid applications shall remain in effect.
SECTION VI. Repeal and
Savings Clause. All ordinances or
parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed; provided,
however, that nothing herein contained shall affect any rights, actions or
causes of action which shall have accrued to the Village of Vernon Hills prior
to the effective date of this ordinance.
SECTION VII. Effective Date. This ordinance shall be in
full force and effect from and after its passage, approval and publication in
pamphlet form as provided by law.
SECTION VIII. This ordinance shall be
known as Ordinance 2003-48.
Adopted
by roll call vote as follows:
Ayes:
Nays:
Absent
and not voting:
Abstain:
Passed:
Approved:
Published
in pamphlet form:
Village President
Attest
Village Clerk