What the Apex zoning ordinance says about signs, district by district. Section numbers link to the official ordinance.
Signs in commercial-use buildings follow Table 8.7.1: most permanent sign types (awning, directory, ground, wall, suspended, projecting) are allowed with a permit; window signs and interior signs have separate rules. Downtown-area properties (B2, Central Business District, Apex National Register Historic District, Small Town Character Overlay, Downtown Festival District) follow the special Sec. 8.7.7 standards instead of the general table for some sign types.
B2 properties within the Central Business District, Apex National Register Historic District, Small Town Character Overlay District, MORR, or Downtown Festival District follow the special downtown sign standards of Sec. 8.7.7 rather than the general Table 8.7.1 rules for certain sign types.
Sign type, size, and number are governed by Table 8.7.1, which lists each sign type as permitted with a permit (P), not allowed (X), or allowed without a permit, broken out by residential, commercial, industrial, and office/institutional use. Home occupation signs are P for residential uses only. Residential subdivisions may have up to two principal ground signs per vehicular entrance, capped at 40 square feet total per entrance, set back at least 10 feet from the right-of-way, with specific rules for median placement and mounting on a fence or wall up to 6 feet tall (Sec. 8.7.1.A.15.a). Multi-family residential principal ground signs follow similar standards keyed to major/limited-service entrances (Sec. 8.7.1.A.15.b). The Central Business District, Apex National Register Historic District, Small Town Character Overlay District, MORR, and Downtown Festival District follow separate standards under Sec. 8.7.7. The actual permit-application requirement is Sec. 8.7.6 (Installation Requirements): where a permit is required, the application goes to the Planning Department; a permit fee applies per the Town Council's current fee schedule; a permit is issued if the proposed sign meets the Section's requirements and is returned to the applicant for revisions if it does not; a sign within a multiple-use, mixed-use, or integrated development cannot be permitted until that development's Master Sign Plan is approved (Sec. 8.7.5); any modification or replacement of a sign, support, or frame requires its own permit; and an issued permit becomes null and void if the sign is not erected within 12 months.
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