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Monday, 16 October 2006 01:04

Jackson City Sign Ordinance Clarified

Jackson City Sign OrdinanceConfusion over the Jackson City sign ordinance has now been clarified by City Manager Mike Daly. Daly has instructed city staff that temporary signs, such as paper and fiberboard signs typically used for temporary advertising, can only be placed on the property of the business they advertise, irregardless of their size and shape. This means no signs to advertise sales at local business will be appearing on roadsides inside the city of Jackson. The issue came to a head in the last week because of ambiguity over the city’s current sign policies. The City Council recently reviewed the sign ordinance in reference to political signs popping up in the city because of the November 7th election. The ordinance as written allows only two political signs per property, no larger then 18 x 24 inches. The city council was reviewing the ordinance to see if the current policy was too restrictive.

Staff InstructedFor example in an election cycle, as we are currently in, where there are multiple races and multiple candidates it may be too restrictive to allow only two signs per parcel. Also questioned was the US Constitution’s First Amendment rights and the restrictive ordinances impacts on those rights. For all of these reasons the city council at their September 25th meeting suspended the ordinance in relation to political signage only- not commercial advertising. Now complaints have been coming into city hall about the amount of temporary signs placed to advertise local merchant’s sales. These signs, within the city limits have been removed by city staff and the involved businesses have been asked to refrain from replacing the signs. According to Manager Daly the decision to remove the signs by staff was made by him and now the staff has been instructed to not allow such signs. It will take time for the city council to modify the ordinance and reapprove a new sign policy for political advertising, however, all other components of the current sign policy and in full force. For any questions contact the City at 223-1646.

City Council Complaints