Zoning Ordinance

String lighting: Outdoor lighting of flexible or rigid construction used to outline or decorate any structure, including principal or accessory structures, tents, or parking areas, which is not strip lighting.

Temporary sign: Any sign, banner, pennant, or advertising display intended to be displayed for a limited time period. Does not include signs inside a building that can be viewed through a window. Temporary signs must be located on-premise.

Temporary window sign: A sign in contact or within three (3) feet of the window on the inside, and visible from the outside, that is not painted onto the window or stuck to the window in such a manner as to require scraping or the use of solvents or similar substances to remove it from the window pane. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a holiday sign painted on a window for thirty (30) days or less shall be treated as a temporary window sign.

Theater sign: A ground sign used for the purpose of advertising motion pictures shown in a theater.

Wall signs: A sign that is permanently attached to the wall of a structure that is used primarily for the display of the name of a business or an advertisement for a type of business.

B. In any zoning district, the following general regulations shall apply:

1. No sign shall be erected or maintained where by reason of its position, wording, illumination, size, shape, or color it may obstruct, impair, obscure, interfere with the view of, or be confused with, any authorized traffic control sign, signal, or device;

2. No sign, except public signs placed by the City or with the City’s permission, shall be placed within any public right of way in the corporate limits of Athens, Tennessee;

3. All signs shall be constructed to withhold a wind load design of 80 mph.

4. All signs greater than twenty (20) feet in height shall require a stamped structural engineer’s drawing.

5. All permanently mounted signs shall require a stamped structural engineer’s drawing and a permit issued by the Athens Building Inspector.

6. No sign having flashing, intermittent or animated illumination shall be permitted within three hundred (300) feet of property in any residential district unless such sign is not visible from such property;

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