>> RELATED: Hundreds of signs spark debate about free speech, state law
The restriction is sporadically enforced by local governing bodies in the Miami Valley and Southwest Ohio.
The trustees were forced to make a decision after residents complained about the number and content of political signs that were lining the township’s roads leading up to the November election.
“As a township we are creatures of statute. That means we have to follow the Ohio Revised Code. Up to this point we had not been enforcing it partially because it’s a taxpayer expense to have to remove all signs,” said Trustee Carolyn Destefani.
Enforcing likely will be an issue year-round for a variety of organizations and professionals.
VOTERS GUIDE: What’s on your ballot for November?
Signs put up temporarily advertising garage sales, baseball tryouts or open house tours of new homes won’t be allowed either.
“We are making this decision to be content neutral,” Destefani said. said. “It doesn’t matter what the signs say, we are uniformly across the board going to follow the Ohio Revised Code to not have any signage in the right-of-way.”
The common right-of-way areas that will be targeted for enforcement are about 10 feet from the sides of roadways.
Township road crews will start removing political signs from those areas Monday morning. Any confiscated signs are expected to be taken back to the township administration building where the owners will be allowed to retrieve them.
Those putting signs in the right-of-ways could be charged with a minor misdemeanor and be ordered to pay a fine. Signs are still allowed to be posted on private property with the owner’s permission.
Some residents had complained about the content of one particular sign popping up this election season that states “Drain the swamp.” The maker of the sign, John Stafford, is campaigning against two incumbent school board candidates and said he’s invested around $2,000 on signs for the race.
STAY CONNECTED: Greene County News on Facebook
Stafford said he’ll look to spend money in other ways to get his message across.
“I think it’s a sad day for Sugarcreek,” he said. “We’ve got a 50-year tradition that we celebrated the election cycle every year with putting up political signs. They go up for 30 days and then they come down. But now there’s going to be no signs. There’s going to be no expression of political free speech within our community.”
Stafford said he will likely run for a seat on the school board in the next election.
Destefani said in the future, trustees will explore the idea of having designated areas for placing signs in public spaces.
About the Author