Various model sign codes and related guidance documents have been published, and many can be viewed in their entirety including the following: From The Sign Research Foundation http://www.signresearch.org/research-sign-codes/ From the USSC Foundation https://usscfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/USSC-Model-On-Premise-Sign-Code-2018.pdf From the Sign Research Foundation https://www.signresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/A-Framework-for-On-Premise-Sign-Regulation.pdf Wade SwormstedtWade is the former Executive Director of the Foundation for the Advancement of the Sign […]
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Magazine Surveys Shows Positive Growth for Sign Industry
The annual State of the Industry Report, with regard to internally illuminated signs (cabinet signs, channel letters, outline lighting, etc.), conducted by Signs of the Times magazine, showed positive results for 2014 and a prediction of continued growth for 2015. 80% of the respondents said their sales volume increased from 2013 to 2014. Less than 7% […]
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FASI Board Member Prof. Alan Weinstein Addresses APA Conference about Reed v. Gilbert
Law professor Alan Weinstein, a board member of the newly formed Foundation for the Advancement of the Sign Industry, was one of three people associated with sign-industry groups who spoke at a session on sign regulation at the American Planning Association annual conference, April 4, 2016, in Phoenix, Arizona. Speakers at the session, entitled “Regulating […]
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What are Some Recommendations for Regulating Temporary Signage?
Writing sign codes can be challenging for city planners and administrators who have had no formal training abut the nuances of on-premise signage. But a sub-category of this task, writing regulations specifically for temporary signage, presents an even more perplexing problem. Wendy Moeller, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based planner (AICP), who recently served as president of the […]
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Is Your Sign Code Content Neutral? Reed v. Gilbert Warns it Should Be
Quite often, sign codes are primarily governed by their definitions. Many of the definitions are about types of signs: temporary, projecting, banners, fascia, freestanding, pole-mounted, etc. Quite often, however, signs are defined by their content: political, real estate, commercial, yard sale, etc. If a sign is blank, you can still tell what kind of sign it […]
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Content Neutrality Violations Noted in Michigan
The landmark content-neutrality/prior-restraint ruling from North Olmsted is cited in Thomas Township. The message cannot determine the medium. With modest apologies to Marshall McLuhan, when the medium is signage, the courts have bestowed kid-glove treatment upon content neutrality, while wholeheartedly endorsing the tenets of North Olmsted (see ST, December 1999, page 52, and April 2000, […]
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How USSC and ISA Jointly Improved the Intl. Zoning Code
After two years of collaborative effort, the ICC, ISA and USSC release the Intl. Zoning Code’s new-and-improved sign chapter The following article originally appeared in the January 2000 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. By Jennifer Flinchpaugh “An estimated 80,000 communities could have adopted the ICC’s zoning code and, by default, the problematic sign […]
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When the Proposed International Zoning Code Threatened the Sign Industry
Code-development authorities unwittingly imperiled the sign industry The following article originally appeared in the October 1997 issue of Signs of the Times magazine. An update appears on this website at http://signreference.org/2000/01/11/zone-defense/ By Bill Dundas When Signs of the Times magazine received an alarming fax from the United States Sign Council’s Executive Director Andrew D. Bertucci at […]
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