Free expression is a beautiful thing- until it starts getting junky

Every two years the local election season always brings political signs. Included this year will be signs for almost every level of government, except of course the national Presidential election.

Signs seem to pop up along the roads, at intersections, in front yards, in windows, seemingly almost anywhere.

Locally, the Town of Webb has an interesting slate of candidates.

Every two years the Town Supervisor and two Town Board seats are up for grabs.

Along with these will be local Justices and the Highway Superintendent.

However, this year is a little different.

After ten years of service to the Town as Supervisor, Robert Moore has decided to retire from the position. [Thank you Robert for your time, dedication and service to this Town].

The Town of Webb has had a sign ordinance for many, many years.

Political signs have always been specifically identified in the ordinance, and the rules apply to all candidates: Federal, State, County and local.

Political signs are not exempt signs; however, they do not require permits.

As printed in the Town of Webb Zoning Ordinance, Section 32-A-2-g:

“Signs not exceeding twelve (12) square feet of sign area and advocating the political candidacy of an individual, party, group, proposition, referendum, or similar concept.

“Such signs shall be located on private property with the consent of the individual property owner and shall be removed within fifteen (15) days following the date of the specified election to which the advertisement is directed.”

This section is pretty easy to understand.

The sign can’t be larger than 12 square feet in area. They must be on private property with the consent of the property owner.

And they must be removed within 15 days of the general election.

That is pretty straight forward. No funny language.

Since the general election is not until November and there is no specific provision limiting how soon a sign can be placed upon private property, we can expect to see signs all over the Town until after the general election.

Private property clearly is someone’s home. However, it may also be a commercial property, as long as the property or business is privately owned.

It would NOT include any Town, County, State or Federal properties of any kind. Places like the Waterfront and beach, North Street Pavilion, TOBIE Trail, the site for the new information Center in Eagle Bay, any Fire Department or any kind of Town facility would all be prohibited.

Any sign along roads should be placed in front of the house (or business) that owns the land and NOT be placed in the right-of-way of the road itself.

Most State roads have right-of-ways that are pretty wide, 60–100 or more feet in places, well off the paved area.

Town road right-of-ways are anywhere from 40–100 feet wide; the same for County roads, anywhere from 50–100 feet wide.

Signs should not be placed on the shoulder of the road, even if the private property fronts that road.

Caution should be taken to place the sign off the right-of-way and onto the private property.

Every election season can create an enforcement opportunity (we never call a problem a problem, it is always an opportunity). The Code Office will not be measuring whether each sign is in or out of the road right-of-ways.

But by the same token, we cannot ignore flagrant violations.

The policy here in the Code Office will be to pick up and bring back to the office, any sign that is obviously in violation.

Every attempt will be made to not damage the sign and the candidate will be contacted to come over and pick up their sign here at the office on Park Avenue.

The Sign Ordinance was written to give all candidates an equal opportunity to advertise with signs. It is simple to understand and should be easy to follow.

The ordinance is very liberal as there is no regulation on when signs can start going up as long as they are removed within 15 days after the election. Please play fair, play by the rules.