[R.O. 2011 § 400.1740; R.O. 2009 § 156.740; Ord. No. 08-191, 9-17-2008]
A. 
Billboards and electronic billboards shall comply with Missouri State law and Federal law.
B. 
Non-Conforming Or Abandoned Billboards. Where a billboard structure does not include advertising information other than for the use of the billboard for a period of one hundred twenty (120) continuous calendar days, the billboard structure shall be deemed in violation of this Chapter and shall be removed.
[R.O. 2011 § 400.1750; R.O. 2009 § 156.741; Ord. No. 08-191, 9-17-2008; Ord. No. 11-01 § 1, 1-6-2011]
A. 
Billboards and electronic billboards may be permitted in the following districts as conditional uses if approved by the City Council following recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Commission:
1. 
"I-1" and "I-2" zoning districts.
2. 
"PD-C," "PD-MU," "C-2" and "C-3" zoning districts.
[Ord. No. 19-253, 11-19-2019]
[R.O. 2011 § 400.1760; R.O. 2009 § 156.742; Ord. No. 08-191, 9-17-2008; Ord. No. 11-099 § 1, 5-20-2011]
A. 
Location And Spacing. Billboards shall only be located in a permitted zoning district, along the highway and corridors specified herein and shall meet the following location requirements:
1. 
Billboards shall only be allowed within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the edge of the pavement of Interstate Highway 70 and Missouri State Highways 94, 370 and 364.
2. 
Except as set forth in Subsection (A)(10), no billboard shall be located within ten thousand (10,000) feet of an existing billboard on either side of Interstate Highway 70 and Missouri State Highways 94, 370 and 364 within the municipal boundaries of the City. The 10,000-foot distance shall be measured along the nearest edge of the pavement at points directly opposite the billboard along each side of the highway and shall apply to billboards located on either side of the highway in computing the distance between billboards.
[Ord. No. 20-106, 7-21-2020]
3. 
Except as set forth in Subsection (A)(10), no billboard shall be located within five hundred (500) feet of an interchange or intersection on Interstate Highway 70 and Missouri State Highways 94, 370 and 364; provided, however, that such billboard may be affixed to or located adjacent to a building at an interchange or intersection in a manner as not to cause any greater obstruction of vision than caused by the building itself.
[Ord. No. 20-106, 7-21-2020]
4. 
No portion of a billboard shall be located within two hundred fifty (250) feet of any structure within any residential zoning district or one hundred (100) feet of any structure used primarily as a dwelling unit in any other zoning district.
5. 
No billboard shall be located within three hundred (300) feet of any property or district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, any National Historic Landmark or any location officially designated by the City as a historic landmark or historic district.
6. 
No portion of a billboard shall be placed within a fifty (50) foot radius of any point of a building.
7. 
No billboard shall be placed on rocks, trees or poles maintained by a public utility.
8. 
All billboards shall be exempt from front, side and rear yard building setbacks in the districts in which they are permitted; however, the front yard setback from a road right-of-way shall be a minimum of thirty (30) feet.
9. 
No billboard shall be located on the right-of-way of any road or on any slope or drainage easement for such road.
10. 
Subsection (A)(2), (3) and (6) shall not apply to the southeast quadrant of the intersection of two Missouri State highways in the C-2 zoning district, but instead a separation requirement of 4,000 feet on the same side of the State highway shall apply; but instead a billboard shall not be located closer than one hundred twenty-five (125) feet to an intersection or interchange; and but instead a billboard shall not be placed within a twenty-five-foot radius of any point of a building.
[Ord. No. 20-106, 7-21-2020]
B. 
Maximum Area.
1. 
The maximum area for any one (1) billboard shall be six hundred seventy-two (672) square feet with a maximum height of twenty (20) feet and a maximum length of fifty (50) feet, inclusive of border, cutouts, extensions, projections and trim but excluding the base, apron or supports and other structural members. The area shall be measured by the smallest square, rectangle, triangle, circle or combination thereof which will encompass the entire billboard. Cutouts, extensions and projections shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the area of sign.
2. 
The maximum area limitation shall apply to each side of a billboard structure. Billboards may be placed back-to-back, double faced or in V-type construction with not more than two (2) displays to each facing, but such billboard structure shall be considered as one (1) billboard.
C. 
Maximum Height. The maximum height to top of signage shall not exceed forty-five (45) feet above the natural grade where the billboard is installed or the grade level of the centerline of the highway to which the sign is oriented, whichever is higher.
[R.O. 2011 § 400.1770; R.O. 2009 § 156.743; Ord. No. 08-191, 9-17-2008; Ord. No. 11-01 § 2, 1-6-2011; Ord. No. 11-223 § 1, 11-4-2011]
A. 
Location And Spacing, Area And Height. Electronic billboards shall only be permitted in "I-1," "I-2," "PD-C," "PD-MU," "C-2" and "C-3" zoning districts along Interstate Highway 70 and Missouri State Highways 94, 370 and 364 and shall meet all requirements for location and spacing found in Section 400.1760 Standards for Location and Spacing, Area, and Height, except that:
[Ord. No. 19-253, 11-19-2019]
1. 
No electronic billboard shall be erected, located or placed within two thousand six hundred forty (2,640) feet of another electronic billboard on either side of Interstate Highway 70 and Missouri State Highways 94, 370 and 364. This distance shall be measured along the nearest edge of the pavement at points directly opposite the electronic billboard along each side of the highway, and shall apply to electronic billboards located on either side of the highway in computing the distance between electronic billboards.
2. 
No electronic billboard shall be located within two hundred fifty (250) feet of an existing freestanding on-premises electronic message sign.
B. 
Duration Of Message. The electronic billboard image or any portion thereof shall have a minimum duration of at least ten (10) seconds and shall be a static display. No portion of the image may flash, scroll, twirl, change color, or in any manner imitate movement.
C. 
Transition Of Message. Where the electronic billboard image or any portion thereof changes, the change sequence shall only be accomplished by means of instantaneous re-pixelization.
D. 
Video Display Prohibited. No portion of any electronic billboard may change its message or background in a manner or by a method of display characterized by motion or pictorial imagery, or depict action or a special effect to imitate movement, or the presentation of pictorials or graphics displayed in a progression of frames that give the illusion of motion or the illusion of moving objects, moving patterns or bands of light or expanding or contracting shapes.
E. 
Brightness And Illumination.
1. 
Brightness. The electronic billboard sign shall not exceed a maximum of five thousand (5,000) nits (candelas per square meter) during daylight hours and a maximum illumination of five hundred (500) nits (candelas per square meter) between sundown and sunrise measured from the sign's face at maximum brightness.
2. 
Fluctuating Or Flashing Illumination. No portion of any electronic billboard may fluctuate in light intensity or use intermittent, strobe or moving light or light that changes in intensity in sudden transitory bursts, streams, zooms, twinkles, sparkles or that in any manner creates the illusion of movement.
3. 
Dimmer Control. Electronic billboards shall be equipped with an automatic dimmer control to produce a distinct illumination change from a higher illumination level to a lower level for the time period between sundown and sunrise.
F. 
Audio. Audio speakers are prohibited in association with an electronic billboard.
G. 
Text Size Requirements. Every line of copy and graphics displayed on an electronic billboard shall be at least twelve (12) inches in height on a road with a speed limit of forty-five (45) miles per hour or greater and fifty-four (54) miles per hour or less, and at least fifteen (15) inches in height on a road with a speed limit of fifty-five (55) miles per hour or greater.
H. 
Malfunction And Non-Compliance. Electronic billboards shall be designed and equipped to freeze the device in one (1) position if a malfunction occurs. The electronic billboards shall be equipped with a means to immediately discontinue the display if it malfunctions, and the sign owner shall immediately stop the dynamic display when notified by the City that it is not complying with standards of this code.
I. 
Provision Of Community And Public Service Messaging. The owner of an electronic billboard shall enter into an agreement with the City to provide the City no less than five (5) hours [one thousand eight hundred (1,800) ten-second spots] per month per electronic billboard in the City for community and public service messages at such times as shall be determined by the City.
J. 
I-70 Corridor Billboard Replacement. The owner of a billboard existing on the effective date of this Division may, by application for and approval of a conditional use permit, relocate the billboard structure for the purpose of installing an electronic billboard; provided all of the following conditions are satisfied:
1. 
The property upon which the billboard is located shall be directly adjacent to Interstate 70 right-of-way;
2. 
All existing billboards and freestanding on-premises electronic message signs and their supporting structures shall be permanently removed from the property upon which the electronic billboard is to be located prior to the issuance of a building permit for the electronic billboard;
3. 
No freestanding on-premises electronic message signs or billboards shall be located on the property upon which an electronic billboard is located;
4. 
The electronic billboard shall be located on the same property, within the property boundaries existing upon the effective date of this Division, and within two hundred fifty (250) feet of the existing billboard being replaced;
5. 
The property upon which the electronic billboard is located shall consist of a lot not less than five (5) acres;
6. 
The electronic billboard shall comply with all provisions of the sign regulations Article, except for Section 400.1760(A)(2); and
7. 
The maximum number of sign faces or surfaces permitted on the electronic billboard shall not exceed two (2).
K. 
I-70 Corridor Electronic Billboard Relocation. The owner of a billboard which has received conditional use approval to replace a traditional, static billboard face with an electronic billboard face and has never installed the electronic billboard face may, by application for and approval of a conditional use permit, transfer the right to install an electronic billboard to a different location on a new billboard support structure; provided all of the following conditions are satisfied:
1. 
The property upon which the originally approved billboard is located and the property upon which the relocated billboard is proposed shall be adjacent to Interstate 70 right-of-way between the eastern limit of the City of St. Charles and the Interstate 70/Highway 94 interchange;
2. 
All existing billboards and freestanding on-premises electronic message signs and their supporting structures shall be permanently removed from the property upon which the electronic billboard is to be located prior to the issuance of a building permit for the electronic billboard;
3. 
No additional billboard(s) or additional freestanding on-premises electronic message sign(s) shall be located on the property after the first electronic billboard permitted by this Section 400.1770(K) is so located;
4. 
The property upon which the electronic billboard is located shall consist of a lot not less than three (3) acres;
5. 
The maximum sign area of the relocated billboard shall not exceed the maximum sign area of the originally approved billboard and in no case shall exceed six hundred seventy-two (672) square feet;
6. 
Upon approval of a conditional use permit for an I-70 corridor electronic billboard relocation, the original conditional use approval for an electronic billboard shall become null and void;
7. 
The new billboard structure and electronic billboard shall comply with all provisions of the sign regulations Article, except for Section 400.1760(A)(2), Section 400.1760(A)(3), Section 400.1760(C) and Section 400.1770(A)(1); and
8. 
The maximum number of sign faces or surfaces permitted on a new billboard structure shall not exceed two (2). If conditional use approval to install only one (1) electronic billboard face is being transferred, a new billboard structure may only support one (1) electronic billboard face and one (1) additional face that is not considered to be electronic.
9. 
The maximum height to top of signage for a new billboard structure shall not exceed sixty-five (65) feet above the natural grade where the billboard is installed or the grade level of the centerline of the highway to which the sign is oriented, whichever is higher.