Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. The City of Berea Charter requires that all signs to be permanently displayed must be approved by the Planning Commission.

No. You will still need a permit to install a temporary sign but this permit can be approved by the Building Department. In recent years many people have used temporary signs (banners, flags, yard signs, etc.) on a continual or permanent basis. 

Temporary signs are designed and intended to be displayed for a short period of time. If you need signage on a continual basis, you should consider installing a permanent sign.

Yes. The Planning Commission must approval changing the face of a sign.

In order to appear before the Planning Commission, you must submit 12 copies of the following items:

• Application for a Sign Permit
• Application to Appear before the Planning Commission
• Color elevations
• Hardship letter (if you need a variance)
• Letter of intent
• Photos or some other type of rendering of what the sign will look like including the sign dimensions
• Site plan (if the sign is freestanding)

You must also submit a check for $50 made payable to the City of Berea. 

The 12 copies are distributed to the seven members of the Planning Commission, the Mayor, the Zoning Administrator, the City Engineer, the Director of Public Service and the Director of Public Safety.

A variance may be necessary because of the size, location or height of the sign. In order to determine whether you need a variance, please submit the following information to the Zoning Administrator for a preliminary review: the address where you would like to install the sign:

• Length of the front wall of your building
• Proposed height of the sign
• Proposed location of the sign including the setback from the right of way for free standing signs
• Proposed size of the sign (in square feet)

Once a variance has been approved by the Planning Commission, there is a 20‐day waiting period before a building permit to install the sign may be issued to you.

The Town Center District is defined by “Bagley Road to the North, Eastland Road to the East, Prospect Road and Henry Street to the West and South Rocky River Drive south to the City limits, and all properties that lie along, within, or are immediately adjacent to these boundaries.”

If your property is in the Town Center District, any proposed sign must first be reviewed by the Heritage Architectural Review Board before the Planning Commission can review the sign. For further information about the Heritage Architectural Review Board, please view the Heritage Architectural Review Board Page.