Too Many "Trashy" Signs Harming City's Image?

Fairhope, Alabama


Magnolia Avenue today

CITY COUNCILMAN OBJECTS

During the last council meeting, council president Jack Burrell said he had been receiving complaints about the many temporary signs being placed on city property and in right of ways.

Monday's council meetng

Signs advertising homes for sale, yard sales, estate sales, events, political campaigns, etc. are routinely put out, especially over weekends, sometimes even in flowerbeds despite the city ordinance specifically prohibiting them.

(Generally speaking, the public right of way begins at the telephone poles, or outer edge of sidewalks in some cases.)

He suggested neighborhood residents may want to help out by taking them down themselves on weekends when city employees are off; the mayor suggested taking photos instead and sending them to her office where offenders could be contacted by code enforcement officers later.

NOT FOR PRETTIEST CITY?

One week ago

Burrell: "I had some citizens approach me about signs in flowerbeds ... especially on weekends ... looks trashy ... like to see it stopped ... we have an ordinance ... easy to figure out who did it ... have addresses on them ... or realtor's name ... . We were recently voted prettiest city in state ... if we are going to keep it that way ... need to do something about all these signs ... maybe just put out a warning."

Mayor Wilson: "Anybody who sees one ... take a photo ... e-mail it to me ... we will definitely take care of it."

(Placing signs in state and county road right of ways outside of city limits is also prohibited, but regulated by other law enforcement agencies.)

One week ago

ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS OFFERS HELP

Councilman Burrell told the Times later that Jennifer Foutch, the Government Affairs Director of the Baldwin County Association of Realtors contacted him and offered to help "educate" local realtors about the sign laws.

FINES/JAIL TIME POSSIBLE

The city's penalties for the first offense if convicted in municipal court are up to ten days in jail and fines up to $500; second offenses up to six months in jail as well as more fines.

Three weeks ago

Greeno Road today

today

Fairhope Avenue today

S. Church Street today

Gayfer Avenue today

Fairhope Avenue today

Morphy Avenue today

Greeno Road today

City sign ordinance

Comments

Anonymous said…

This has been an issue for some time,yet the Mayor sure as hell didn't object when all of her political signs were posted all over town as is all of the political ad signs out now.As for yard sales,permits are required,and are only allowed 3 times a year.Now that said when the city enters PRIVATE PROPERTY to remove a yard sale sign that has been posted with the permission of the property owner whats THEIR fine?

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Another angry mayor hater. every politician abuses signs.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Certain people an companies are allowed to put out signs while others are not.

The Realtors and developers run this town!

Why don't the powers that be enforce the laws around here? If there is something wrong with thm then they need to be changed not ignored.

DHM said…

So small signs posted by realtors and for yard sales is a major issue to Councilman Jack Burrell and Mayor Wilson because they are trashy. However, their political campaign signs are not trashy just because they are not posted in the right-of-way. Posting a sign a few feet off the right-of-way does not make it any less of an eyesore. I personally thought the thousands of political signs were so horribly ugly and offensive. Row after row of campaign signs bombarding the citizens is tolerated for weeks on end but a business or person cannot post a small sign for half a day? Sure, the signs are on the right-of-way because they cannot be placed on private property but most are only posted for a few hours, some may be for the weekend and most are picked up by the party that placed them. Sure there are those that don’t bother retrieving their signs but this is certainly true for political campaign signs too. Why can’t the City allow weekend posting of small signs and pick up leftover signs on Monday? After all, the City allows unsightly large piles of yard trash, discarded furniture and household appliances to remain alongside the road side for days sometimes weeks before they pick it up. Perhaps the Fairhope Times could post pictures of the piles of trash in the “prettiest city” for everyone to see what a true trashy eyesore looks like.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Lock 'em up for a while if they won't stop it.

Publisher said…

Where are the piles of trash you mentioned accumulating? We are not aware of any.

The city council may want to change the law to allow temporary signs like some other towns do.

The "unlawful" "ugly" signs are your worries? How about the sewer plant, infrastructure neglect going on? Sure, we're a town for tourist, but what about the people that live here?
]

Trash and discarded furniture is piled up often at the trailer park across from the Fairhope city pool and recreation center.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

There's always furniture at the apartment complex on Spring Run.

How do you tell where the city right of way is if a neighborhood doesn't have side walks?

Thursday, August 02, 2018

Signs not as bad as the tacky sand bags busted open in flower beds at Section and Oak.

Discarded piles of furniture, other household items, and trash can be found on Short St. Also, perhaps because the renters constantly come and go on Short St. and are not Tamar’s of city ordinances, they leave their garbage cans on the street 24/7.

The same area needs to have the trees and bushes cut back more often than happens now. The intersection at Morphy and Short is a problem and will become busier with the new condominium project on the corner of Mobile and Cliff ( backs up to Short St.) soon to be occupied. The asphalt at the end of Morphy is in disrepair.

Monday, August 06, 2018

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Too Many "Trashy" Signs Harming City's Image?

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