(1) Legislative Findings. The Council finds that:

(a) Existing regulations have done little to prevent the City-wide proliferation of commercial outdoor advertising signs nor to provide for an adequate source of funding to administer the issuance of permits, licenses and violations for or inspections of these signs.

(b) The excessive number of commercial outdoor advertising signs contribute to visual clutter and detract from the aesthetic beauty of the City of Philadelphia.

(c) The proliferation of commercial outdoor advertising signs contribute to the appearance of deterioration in residential, commercial and industrial areas of the City and therefore negatively impact upon the economic viability of these areas.

(d) Said signs jeopardize public safety by distracting pedestrians and to a greater extent passing motorists, since these signs by their nature are erected in areas intended to be seen by drivers of motor vehicles.

(e) There exist throughout every area of the City numerous illegally erected commercial outdoor advertising signs that negatively impact upon the general welfare of those neighborhoods.

(f) Because large numbers of these signs exist without benefit of permits or licenses they do not pay existing licensing fees.

(g) Studies of these existing illegal commercial outdoor advertising signs indicate that these signs, especially when they are located within or adjacent to low to moderate income residential neighborhoods, are used at a disproportionately high rate to advertise liquor, beer and cigarettes.

(h) Current regulations do not facilitate an easy determination of the permit or license status of these signs because it is not required that these signs and/or their structures have indication of current licenses affixed thereto.

(i) Current regulations do not sufficiently or adequately penalize individuals or companies that erect and maintain outdoor advertising signs in violation of City ordinances.

(j) It is necessary and desirable to impose additional regulations and license fees to limit the proliferation of these signs, to cause the removal of the existing illegal signs, to fund the administration of these regulations and to facilitate determination of the license and permit status of these signs.

(2) Definitions. In this Section the following definitions apply:
(a) Accessory Sign. A sign which directs attention to information, identification, or advertisements strictly incidental to a lawful use of the premises on which it is located. This includes signs or devices indicating the business transacted, services rendered, goods sold, or produced on the premises; and, name or emblem of a person, firm, institution, organization or activity occupying the premises.

(b) Commercial Sign. A sign containing copy that relates primarily to the economic interests of the publisher or its audience or directs attention to a business, industry, profession, commodity, service, activity, institution, product or entertainment offered for sale.

(c) Non-Accessory Sign. A sign which directs attention to a business, industry, profession, commodity, service organization, activity, institution, business, product or entertainment neither sold, located nor offered upon the property where the sign is situated.

(d) Non-Commercial Sign. A sign containing copy that does not relate primarily to the economic interests of the publisher or its audience nor directs attention to a business, industry, profession, commodity, service, activity, institution, product or entertainment offered for sale.

(e) Outdoor Advertising Sign. Any sign including any non-accessory commercial or non-accessory non-commercial sign, roof sign and all advertising matter painted, pasted, fastened or otherwise applied to the side wall or roof of any building or structure, or trailer, but excluding: advertising matter displayed on operative currently registered motor vehicles, pedestrians; accessory advertising matter displayed on newsstands; information required by law or ordinance to be placed on structures; notice to the public that a property is for sale or rent; and, any sign placed on the front of any building giving in unilluminated words and/or numerals the name and brief description of the nature of the business or businesses transacted.

(f) Sign. A name, identification, description, emblem, display, or device which is affixed to, or printed on, or represented directly or indirectly upon a building, structure, or parcel of land; which is illuminated or non-illuminated; visible or intended to be visible from any public place; and, which directs attention to a person, place, product, institution, business, organization, activity or service. Signs also include any permanently installed or situate merchandise, including any banner, pennant, placard or temporary sign, with the exception of window displays and national flags.

(g) Sign Support Structure. Any column, upright, brace or construction situate upon the ground, a building or another structure the purpose of which is to support a sign or sign message.

(3) No person shall erect or maintain any outdoor advertising sign unless they have obtained appropriate licenses from the Department of Licenses and Inspections.

(4) Licenses for Individual Signs^[474.1]. No license shall be issued unless:

(a) The applicant possess a valid Zoning Permit for the outdoor advertising sign;

(b) The Department finds that the Outdoor advertising signs and their sign support structures which are proposed to be erected or which are erected or maintained are to be, or have been constructed in conformity with all codes and that all proper permits have been secured;

(c) The applicant, or their authorized representative proposes to erect or maintain a sign or sign structure which extends in any manner into or above a public street, highway or right-of-way, agrees to comply with the terms of the license and to indemnify the City against any liability by reason of granting the license, and files a continuing bond for the sign satisfactory to the Law Department.

(d) The applicant pays an annual license fee in accordance with the following:

(.1) For accessory and non-accessory signs one hundred seventy-five ($175) dollars for each outdoor advertising sign.

(.2) For accessory non-commercial signs no fee.

(e) If the applicant is or proposes to engage an individual or company whose business is the erection, construction and/or maintenance of signs and/or sign structures, that individual or company possesses a valid annual license, as provided for below, allowing them to erect and maintain outdoor advertising signs.

(f) The applicant does not have any outstanding violations, for which all legal appeals have been exhausted, nor any outstanding court orders requiring the removal of any sign(s) for which all legal appeals have been exhausted, for erecting and/or maintaining outdoor advertising signs in violation of The Philadelphia Code.

(g) The applicant or their representative affix on each sign and/or sign structure information indicating the owner of the sign and (if applicable) the individual or company responsible for erecting and/or maintaining the sign and/or sign structure.

(5) Licenses for Individuals or Companies. Any individual or company, whose business is the erection, construction and/or maintenance of outdoor advertising signs and/or sign structures, shall be required to obtain an annual license for the privilege of erecting outdoor advertising. No annual licenses shall be issued unless:

(a) The applicant pays an annual license fee of one hundred fifty ($150) dollars for the privilege of erecting, constructing and/or maintaining outdoor advertising signs within the City.

(b) The applicant posts a bond satisfactory to the Law Department in an amount satisfactory to the Law Department to pay for the cost of removal and/or demolition of any sign that is found to be unsafe, to be a public nuisance, or is required to be removed under any terms of The Philadelphia Code. This bond is to be used only if, after a period of thirty (30) days from an order from the Department of Licenses and Inspections, the applicant refuses to remove an offending sign.

(c) The applicant does not have any outstanding violations, for which all legal appeals have been exhausted nor any outstanding court orders requiring the removal of any sign(s) for which all legal appeals have been exhausted, for erecting and/or maintaining outdoor advertising signs in violation of The Philadelphia Code.

(d) The applicant or their representative affix on each sign and/or sign structure information indicating the owner of the sign and (if applicable) the individual or company responsible for erecting and/or maintaining the sign and/or sign structure.

(6) License Tags. The Department shall annually issue licenses and license tags for each sign face to be erected and maintained in accordance with the following:

(a) For each outdoor advertising sign as defined in Section 9-602(2)(e), a license tag shall be issued by the Department of Licenses and Inspections. Each tag shall be of a size and color so as to be easily read from the footway and/or street or highway. The tag shall contain a license number peculiar to that sign face and shall be visible from the footway and/or street or highway. A renewal sticker shall be issued annually. The color of the renewal sticker shall be changed annually.

(b) For each non-accessory commercial or non-commercial sign the applicant shall annually affix a valid license tag to each sign message they wish to erect or maintain.

(c) For each accessory commercial or non-commercial sign the Department of Licenses and Inspections shall issue a license.

(d) For each accessory commercial or non-commercial sign the applicant shall maintain on the premises a license for each sign.

(e) The Department of Licenses and Inspections shall adopt appropriate regulations for the issuance of licenses and license tags for outdoor advertising sign faces which shall be consistent with this Section.

(7) Inspections. The Department of Licenses and Inspections shall inspect all outdoor advertising signs erected, constructed, or maintained under the provisions of this Section to ensure they are structurally safe, that they comply to all other appropriate Sections of The Philadelphia Code, and that they have a valid annual license, and they may abate any outdoor advertising sign erected, constructed or maintained in violation of this Section.

(8) Public Nuisance. Any sign and/or sign structure which does not conform in the requirements of this Section is hereby declared a public nuisance.

(9) Abatement.

(a) Except as provided in Section 9-602(9)(c) below, whenever any sign is erected and/or maintained in violation of the provisions of this Chapter or of the regulations promulgated under it, the Department of Licenses and Inspections shall serve written notice of such violations upon the violator, directing compliance within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the notice of violation. In the case of unlicensed accessory or non-accessory signs where ownership cannot be determined or notice cannot be delivered, the Department of Licenses and Inspections shall place a violation notice upon the sign and/or sign structure and shall place advertisements in at least one (1) daily newspaper giving notice of the violation.

(b) After expiration of the time for compliance as stated on the notice of violation (thirty (30) days), if the violation has not been corrected and no appeal is pending, the Department of Licenses and Inspections may itself or by contract remove the offending sign. The costs incurred by the Department shall be charged against the person owning such offending sign or against the bond posted by the individual or company that owns or erected and maintains the offending sign. If the sign was unlicensed or abandoned, the property owner on whose premises the sign is located shall be responsible for the cost of removal.

(c) If any violation of the provisions of this Chapter results in an immediate peril to persons or property, the Department of Licenses and Inspections may require immediate compliance. If such compliance is not forthcoming, the Department may without other notice, in addition to invoking any other sanction or remedial procedure provided, apply with the approval of the Law Department to any Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia for relief by injunction or restraining order.

(10) Penalties.^[474] The penalty for violation of any term or condition of a license or any provision of this Section is, in addition to any other sanction imposed, a fine not exceeding three hundred (300) dollars. Each day this Section is violated shall be deemed a separate offense for which a separate penalty may be imposed.

(11) Severability. If any provision, sentence, clause, Section or part of this Ordinance is for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal, or invalid, such unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not effect or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, Sections or part of this Ordinance. It is the intent of the City Council that this Ordinance would have been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid provision, sentence, clause, Section or part thereof not been included herein.