Edit: Nope, I still didn’t have it right. Vienna is writing its own unique ordinance that does not match the one being promulgated as a Virginia standard. I have rewritten this accordingly.
The Town’s unique new sign ordinance (.pdf), which is not the same as the Virginia model ordinance (despite what the public hearing notice said), would do the following, with regard to yard signs:
Limit any yard sign to no more than 12 square feet.
Place no limit in the number of yard signs you could have.
Place a 90 day limit on how long you may leave a yard sign up.
And, hilariously enough, although the genesis of this was that you had to treat all signs the same, regardless of content, the first thing they do is treat signs differently, based on content. Political yard signs have to come down after 90 days. Real estate signs can stay up indefinitely.
And so, literally the only thing of note, in recent Town-wide history, that the new ordinance would prevent would be a repeat of my “small town Vienna” sign campaign. As well as the use of any campaign sign that exceeded 12 square feet, such as one erected by mayoral candidate Majdi. (If erected in a residential area.)
It also appears to transfer some power to the Director of Planning and Zoning. Which, if you’ve been following the action in Town, is no surprise.
In any case, although the public hearing indicated that we were adopting the Virginia model ordinance, to make sure that the regulation is content neutral, neither of those statements is true. This is not the language of the model ordinance, and the proposed ordinance differentiates treatment of signs based on content. And, importantly, political signage is subject to more restrictive treatment than commercial (real estate) signage.
Finally, this does still reach inside your own house, and bars you from having any sign in your window for more than 90 days. I can’t believe there’s any reasonable justification for that, other than maybe some Town Council member doesn’t like some particular sign. And that, surely, is no justification for this part of the law.
The rest of this posting is obsolete. Although informative.
The bottom line is that more-or-less the only thing that the new law prohibits is something like my small town Vienna signs. Something intended for a long-term protest of Town Council actions. And any large sign, such as the one used by mayoral candidate Majdi. And any sign you would care to display in your window, if you want to keep it up more than 90 days.
Obsolete material follows.
I’m now going to the Town’s archives for various meetings and trying to figure out what they are actually saying about limiting yard signs. In particular, limiting political yard signs.
To cut to the chase, if they follow through with what they propose, then:
A) You will be limited to no more than four standard political campaign signs in your yard.
B) You will have to take them down (or, plausibly, replace them) after 90 days.
So, first, I can’t believe that would survive a legal challenge. And second, the people drafting this were thinking only of aesthetics and safety. I’m pretty sure they didn’t give freedom-of-speech issues any serious thought when they drafted this section of the proposed ordinance.
Details follow. Continue reading Post #821: Political signs and the Town of Vienna. Digging down to find the facts.
Against my better judgement, I’m going to start posting occasionally about the Town of Vienna again. That was, in fact, the original purpose of this website.
