Placement.
Signs may not be placed on or over public roads or rights-of-way without approval from the Administrator, who shall ensure that traffic safety is maintained. Signs may not be placed in road or access easements, except for traffic signs and safety warning signs. On private property, signs may be placed in private utility easements.
Illumination.
Illumination may be indirect with the source of light concealed from view, direct, emanating through translucent materials of the sign itself, or by electrically activated gas tubing such as neon. LED signs and electronic message boards are not prohibited, but shall comply with all requirements of this Section. Indirect and reflected illumination shall not exceed ten (10) vertical footcandles in residential and mixed-use districts and twenty-five (25) footcandles in nonresidential districts. Indirect and reflected illumination readings shall be taken from the property line. Direct or interior illumination shall not exceed one hundred fifty (150) footcandles in residential and mixed-use districts and two hundred fifty (250) footcandles in nonresidential districts.
Permanence.
All signs shall be permanently affixed or attached to the ground or to a structure, except for temporary signs allowed under this Section.
Electrical.
All electrical service to a freestanding sign shall be underground.
Additional requirements.
Signs and sign structures may be subject to additional requirements of the county or the state, including building permit requirements and structural requirements of the New Mexico Building Code.
Sign Maintenance.
All signs shall be maintained in good condition at all times. All signs shall be kept neatly finished and repaired, including all parts and supports. The Administrator may inspect any sign governed by the SLDC at any time to ensure compliance with this Section.
Measurement.
The following standards apply to the measurement of all signs.
Sign area for individual signs.
The area of the sign face shall be computed as shown in Figure 7.1 by means of drawing the smallest rectangle that will encompass the extreme limits of the writing, representation, emblem or other display, together with any material or color forming an integral part of the background. If the sign is a cabinet sign (a sign that contains all the text, artwork, logos and/or other information displayed within an enclosed cabinet), then the sign area shall be determined by the outer edge of the sign frame or cabinet that encompasses all text, decorative artwork, logos, or other information displayed.
Figure 7.1: Measurement of Sign Area
|
Sign area for multi-faced signs.
Sign area of multi-faced signs is calculated based on the principle that all sign elements that can be seen at one time or from one vantage point will be considered in measuring that side of the sign. Figure 7.2 illustrates the following two standards:
Where the sign faces of a double-faced sign are parallel or the interior angle formed by the faces is 60 degrees or less, only one display face shall be measured in computing sign area. If the two faces of a double-faced sign are of unequal area, the area of the sign shall be the area of the larger face.
Where the sign faces of a double-faced sign are parallel or the interior angle formed by the faces is 60 degrees or more, the areas of all faces of a multi-faced sign shall be added together to compute the area of the sign.
Figure 7.2: Measurement of Area: Multi-faced Signs
|
The height of a freestanding sign shall be measured as the vertical distance from the average finished grade of the ground below the sign excluding any filling, berming, mounding or excavating solely for the purposes of increasing the height of the sign, to the top edge of the highest portion of the sign including any architectural appurtenances.
The required setback for freestanding signs shall be the distance between the nearest edge of the sign and the road right-of-way or lot line.
Building frontage.
For purposes of this Section, the building frontage shall mean the horizontal length of a building on the side with its principal public entrance, measured as the shortest distance between two lines projecting from the two front corners of the building (regardless of concave or convex characteristics of the building), with the lines parallel to each other and as close as practicable to the perpendicular front of the building. Figure 7.3 illustrates this concept:
Figure 7.3: Measurement of Building Frontage
|