Business signs: thirty-five per cent at the front and fifty on the sides

They are three consecutive rules of Chapter 8.7 of Joint Regulation No. 9473. Rule 8.7.6 covers signs and advertisements in commercial districts or unqualified areas with an authorised commercial use; Rule 8.7.7, industrial districts or unqualified areas with an authorised industrial use; and Rule 8.7.8, D-G and D-A publicly owned districts, with an authorised public use, or on land of the Government of Puerto Rico or of its instrumentalities or political subdivisions. All three follow the same structure: general provisions, façade signs, ground signs and advertisements; and all three refer to Rule 8.7.11 for advertisements proper.

Rule 8.7.6 applies in commercial districts or unqualified areas with an authorised commercial use; Rule 8.7.7, in industrial districts or unqualified areas with an authorised industrial use; and Rule 8.7.8, in D-G and D-A publicly owned districts, with an authorised public use, or on land of the Government of Puerto Rico or of its instrumentalities or political subdivisions. In all three, the use authorised for the principal structure may not be a domiciliary or accessory permit. In unqualified areas the installation of advertisements may be authorised conditioned on the future qualification, and when that qualification occurs the conditioned permit becomes a Permiso No Conforme Legal with a term of one year, with a justified extension of the same term.

• In commercial districts: that the sum of the sizes of the signs, for each business, service, recreation, profession or permitted use, be no greater than thirty-five per cent of the front façade and fifty per cent of each of the other façades.Verified against the official source
• In multi-storey buildings with several uses: one sign per existing use on the first storey, and for the uses on the other storeys a single directory-type sign identifying all existing uses.Verified against the official source
• On lots with a public road frontage under twenty-five feet wide: not installing ground signs, which are not permitted.Verified against the official source
• On lots with a frontage between twenty-five and under forty-five feet wide: one ground sign with a maximum size of two hundred square feet and a maximum height of thirty-five feet at its upper level.Verified against the official source
• On lots with a frontage of forty-five feet or more wide: one ground sign with a maximum size of four hundred square feet and a maximum height of sixty feet at its upper level.Verified against the official source
• Not counting the sizes of ground signs within the percentage permitted for signs installed on building façades.Verified against the official source
• In marketing centres and extensive commercial recreation centres in C-I Districts: one ground sign not exceeding six hundred square feet nor sixty feet of height.Verified against the official source
• In shopping centres in other districts: one ground sign not exceeding four hundred square feet nor forty-five feet of height, and only one per shopping centre or intensive active recreation park.Verified against the official source
• In signs fixed to a marquee’s general body: installing them parallel to the public road and not extending them beyond the marquee’s general body nor the upper level of its roof.Verified against the official source
• In industrial districts: that the sign’s percentage and the advertisement’s percentage add up to one hundred per cent of the permitted size, without exceeding the district’s maximum permitted size.Verified against the official source
• In D-G and D-A publicly owned districts: that ground signs not project into the public roads, that their height from ground level to their highest part not exceed thirty feet, and that only one be installed, except on corner lots where one may face each road.Verified against the official source
• That the use authorised for the principal structure not be a domiciliary or accessory permit.Verified against the official source
• Obtaining the installation permit for advertisements in the same way the Permiso Único was obtained.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Thirty-five per cent and fifty per cent

   The figure governing the commercial façade is a pair. The sum of the sizes of the signs, for each business, service, recreation, profession or use permitted in commercial districts or unqualified areas, shall be no greater than thirty-five per cent of the front façade and fifty per cent of each of the other façades. Note it is a sum: not one sign’s size but the sum of all of that business’s. And in D-G and D-A publicly owned districts the same pair governs: thirty-five per cent of the front façade’s area and fifty per cent of the building’s other façades.

2. 2

   Step 2: How many signs and who counts them

   One or more signs and advertisements are permitted in the proportion and number desired, provided the district’s or unqualified area’s maximum permitted size is not exceeded and the premises’ size supports it. And they are permitted per lot, building or premises with a principal use, installed parallel or perpendicular to the public road. The multi-storey building rule is the one most people need: in multi-storey buildings with several uses, one sign per existing use on the first storey is permitted; for the uses existing on the other storeys, only one directory-type sign is permitted to identify all existing uses, which may be sited affixed to the wall or on the ground as permitted.

3. 3

   Step 3: The ground sign depends on the frontage

   There are three tiers and the first is a zero. Lots with a public road frontage under twenty-five feet wide: no ground signs are permitted. Lots with a frontage between twenty-five and under forty-five feet wide: one sign with a maximum size of two hundred square feet and a maximum height of thirty-five feet at its upper level is permitted. Lots with a frontage of forty-five feet or more wide: one sign with a maximum size of four hundred square feet and a maximum height of sixty feet at its upper level is permitted. And an important relief: the sizes of signs installed on the ground are not counted within the percentage permitted for signs installed on façades.

4. 4

   Step 4: Corners and separate buildings

   Two rules that multiply the permitted number. On corner lots one sign may be sited facing each public road, each face counting as a distinct sign. And on lots with more than one separate structure or building operating a use permitted by the qualification, one sign may be installed in front of each building; the size and height are set under the same section, and the sign may have non-intermittent lighting.

5. 5

   Step 5: The shopping centre sign

   In addition to the building sign, shopping centres and commercial recreation centres may be identified by a ground sign. The size of the sign installed at marketing centres and at extensive commercial recreation centres in C-I Districts shall not exceed six hundred square feet, and four hundred square feet for shopping centres in the other districts. It may have non-intermittent lighting. Only one sign per shopping centre or intensive active recreation park is permitted, and the height, measured from ground level to its highest part, shall not exceed sixty feet for marketing centres and extensive commercial recreation centres in C-I Districts, except that it shall be forty-five feet for shopping centres sited in other districts. On corner lots one sign may face each road. And on lots with more than one separate structure, in addition to the centre’s sign, one sign may be installed in front of each building.

6. 6

   Step 6: The marquee and its limits

   In both commercial and industrial districts, signs fixed to a marquee’s general body are permitted, parallel to the public road, with a double condition: they may not extend beyond the marquee’s general body nor the upper level of its roof. That is, the sign may live on the marquee, but not stick out at the sides nor peek above it.

7. 7

   Step 7: Splitting sign and advertisement in industrial

   Rule 8.7.7 permits one or more individual signs and advertisements in the proportion and number desired, provided the district’s maximum permitted size is not exceeded, and illustrates it with a table whose operative content is an equation: the percentage the sign occupies plus the percentage the advertisement occupies add up to one hundred per cent of the permitted size. In other words, sign and advertisement share the same surface budget. Façade signs may have non-intermittent lighting and are affixed to any of the building’s façades. And advertisements on façades or on the ground are permitted provided they comply with Rule 8.7.11, which this site has not yet read and which must be consulted before installing an advertisement.

8. 8

   Step 8: The thirty feet of public land

   Rule 8.7.8 covers D-G and D-A publicly owned districts, with an authorised public use, or land belonging to the Government of Puerto Rico or any of its instrumentalities or political subdivisions. On façades the thirty-five per cent front and fifty per cent others govern, with non-intermittent lighting permitted. On the ground the important part changes: the signs shall not project into the public roads; their height, measured from ground level to their highest part, shall not exceed thirty feet; and only one ground sign is permitted, except on corner lots where one may face each road. Thirty feet is half of what the commercial district permits on a wide lot.

9. 9

   Step 9: Unqualified areas and the conditioned permit’s year

   For advertisements in unqualified areas, installation may be authorised conditioned on the future qualification. And there is a consequence with a clock: when the qualification occurs, the conditioned permit granted becomes a Permiso No Conforme Legal with a term of one year, with a justified extension of the same term. That same conditioning on the future qualification recurs in industrial and publicly owned districts. And in all three cases, the installation permit for advertisements is obtained in the same way the Permiso Único was obtained.

10. 10

    Step 10: The notes on the source’s cross-references

    Four sections of these three rules send readers to "Rule 8.7.3" for the size and design parameters of signs, but Rule 8.7.3 is the one on Sign and Advertisement Permits; the size and design parameters are in Rule 8.7.4. Separately, Section 8.7.7.3 says ground signs in industrial districts shall comply with "Rule 8.7.7", which is the rule sending the reader back to itself; and Section 8.7.8.4 refers to "Chapter 8.7.4", mixing a chapter label with a rule number. We reproduce all four cross-references as printed and correct none.

Sign permits are processed before OGPe or the municipality of the corresponding hierarchy. The installation permit for advertisements is obtained in the same way the premises’ Permiso Único was obtained. In unqualified areas the permit is authorised conditioned on the future qualification, and when that occurs it becomes a Permiso No Conforme Legal with a term of one year, extendable by the same term with justification. And for advertisements proper, all three rules refer to Rule 8.7.11 of the same chapter.

• Computing the thirty-five per cent for a single sign, when the limit applies to the sum of the sizes of each business’s signs.
• Applying the thirty-five per cent to all façades, when those other than the front admit up to fifty per cent.
• Installing a ground sign on a lot with a frontage under twenty-five feet wide, where none is permitted.
• Using the four-hundred-square-foot and sixty-foot cap on a lot with a frontage under forty-five feet, where the cap is two hundred square feet and thirty-five feet.
• Deducting the ground sign from the percentage permitted on the façade, when it is not counted within that percentage.
• Putting one sign per tenant on the upper storeys of a multi-storey building, when for those storeys only a directory-type sign is permitted.
• Installing more than one identification sign per shopping centre or intensive active recreation park.
• Using the six hundred square feet and sixty feet of height for a shopping centre outside a C-I District, where the cap is four hundred square feet and forty-five feet.
• Extending a marquee sign beyond the marquee’s general body or the upper level of its roof.
• Exceeding thirty feet of height on the ground sign of a D-G or D-A district or of public land.
• Installing more than one ground sign on public land outside a corner lot.
• Installing ground signs that project into the public roads.
• Installing signs relying on a domiciliary or accessory permit for the principal structure.
• Designing an advertisement with this guide’s rules, when all three rules refer to Rule 8.7.11 for advertisements.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• OGPe Single Business Portal

  ogpe

  www.permisos.pr.gov

• Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov