Pulaski County may soon repeal its local restrictions on campaign signs. The request was brought to the county’s advisory plan commission Monday by members of the Pulaski County Election Board. “We feel that the state and federal laws address the signs, and this may just add another layer of potential censorship and/or confusion because if they meet the state and federal mandates, they won’t meet these, and if they meet these, they might not remember to meet those,” election board member Laura Bailey explained. “And it just creates potential problems.”
She said state and federal laws cover the placement and content of campaign signs. On the other hand, the county’s Unified Development Ordinance attempts to regulate things like the size and number of signs on a given property, as well as when they’re allowed to be posted.
But the county’s rules are somewhat vague. They don’t refer directly to campaign signs. Instead, they have a category on “special signs,” which are not clearly defined.
Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer told the plan commission that wording stems from a Supreme Court decision from a few years ago. “The language that’s in our ordinance was, I think, our consultant’s way of getting around the guidelines that emanated from the court’s decision, but just kind of added to the confusion,” he said. “And I’ve spent a few hours looking at what sign regulations should look like in the wake of this decision, and it’s not worth the hassle, at least right now, maybe not ever.”
Origer agreed with the election board’s recommendation that the “special signs” portion of the ordinance be repealed, at least for now. None of the plan commission members voiced any objection to that idea. It’s expected to be included in a round of updates to the county’s Unified Development Ordinance, to take place in the coming months.
