Summer may be a great time to sell off unwanted items in the garage, but city officials say it's also a great time for signs to clutter sidewalks or the view from the road in the process.
Those advertising sales have to remove their roadside sign when they are finished with the sale, says Greg Moran, code enforcement officer for the city of Jamestown. In addition, there are places where even temporary signs are not permitted. Though it is infrequently followed and difficult to enforce, putting a sign up on someone else's property may require a permit from the city, or in the least verbal permission from the property owner.
Moran refers to language in the city code which dictates the proper use of advertising materials. In chapter 300 it groups together all temporary signs for residential yard sales or auctions and says they should not exceed four square feet in area. While the store-bought variety certainly abide by the rule, it is up to the user to display them in a proper fashion - such signs not be in place for a period exceeding seven days, the city code adds.
Although a traffic intersection might seem like the ideal location to display an ad, Moran says it is a distraction for traffic. People often slow down to read it, when they should be watching for changing traffic signals or pedestrians in the cross walk, Moran said. Again, the city code has a guideline for the proximity of signs to the roads.
"No sign shall impair or cause confusion of vehicular traffic in its design, color or placement," the code reads.
It defines a triangular area that is off limits, consisting of a pair of sides running 30 feet down the roads from their point of intersection, and its long side comprised of a diagonal that cuts through the yard space. This "corner lot" should be free from signs, foliage, walls, shrub plantings or tree foliage, to give drivers an uninterrupted view at the road crossing.
CHASING COMMON CULPRITS
The city code says no sign shall be located on public property without written consent from the controlling jurisdiction, and that includes the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street curb known as the public terrace.
"If I'm out doing a housing inspection, and there's a sign out in the terrace, I'll take it down," says Moran.
Although he says his team of code enforcers are focused on other issues in the city, they take care of these visible issues when they encounter them. Frequently, he says he returns improperly places signs to the owners and suggests they display them on their own property. But he notes it is especially frustrating to see the same culprits putting up fresh signs after he removes them, such as the constant notices of baseball card auctions on Royal Avenue.
These signs should be set up in accordance with the one-week time constraint and only placed on properties who have consented permission, he says.
Moran said another trouble spot is the utility poles at the intersection of Cole and Foote avenues. In this case, the poles are owned by private utility companies and their employees are put at risk when they service the utility lines, since the lower section of the poles are covered with hundreds of rusted fasteners.
The city charter and code for Jamestown is available at www.ecode360.com/?custId=JA1371.
