Illegal Election Signs Unbalance the Playing Field

Last week, as I was driving south on Route 15 from Leesburg toward Warrenton, I noticed that there were quite a few election signs that had been placed illegally along the highway. I decided to count them on my way back.

The county’s zoning ordinance sets restrictions on the size of election signs, which are defined as “temporary signs.” First, according to Keith Fairfax of the county’s zoning office, they may not be larger than four square feet. Most of the small signs we see are within that 2 x 2 maximum. The large, billboard-style signs, most of which appear to be 8 x 4 (32 square feet), violate the county’s zoning ordinance, even if they are on private property.

Note: Under the Town of Leesburg’s zoning ordinance, signs up to 32 square feet are allowed if they are less than six feet tall and on private property. This applies only to signs that are posted within the town limits. Other towns in Loudoun County may have their own regulations that would apply within their corporate limits.

No election signs are permitted in the public right of way, either inside or outside the town limits. According to Keith Fairfax, the public right of way extends a minimum of five feet beyond the edge of the pavement. Sometimes the right of way is much wider.

Election signs that are placed right next to the side of the road, or in highway medians, are in the public right of way, and are therefore illegal.

For the purposes of this exercise, I counted signs as illegal only if they were clearly less than five feet from the side of the road, or obviously larger than the 2 x 2 maximum size. Small signs, more than five feet from the highway, may also have been illegal if the public right of way was wider there, but I did not count them. Here’s what I found:

I counted 36 signs that clearly violated the zoning ordinance. Two Republican candidates for the Virginia General Assembly accounted for 29 of the illegal signs.

David Ramadan, running for Delegate in the 87th District, had 15 signs that were too close to the highway and one large billboard-style sign. And Dick Black, candidate for the Virginia Senate in the 13th District, had 14 signs that were right next to the edge of the pavement, and one large sign.

Other candidates who had illegal signs on that stretch of highway were Janet Clarke, candidate for the Blue Ridge District seat on the Board of Supervisors (one large sign and one in the public right of way); Randy Minchew, candidate for Virginia Delegate in the 10th District (two large signs); and Jim Plowman, candidate for Commonwealth’s Attorney (one large sign).

I found it interesting that all of these candidates are Republicans. I did not see a single sign that was clearly illegal that supported a Democratic or independent candidate.

I drove back down the same stretch of highway a few days later to take pictures of some of the signs and found that all of the illegal signs had been removed from the public right of way. I suspect that this was the work of the “sign collection program volunteers” who have been trained and authorized by the county to remove illegal signs from the side of the road. Some of the large, billboard-style signs on private property remained.

To get some more pictures, I drove southeast down Evergreen Mills Road, outside the Leesburg town limits, and quickly found 11 more illegal signs. Four were for Dick Black (three in the right of way and one large sign); one large sign for Janet Clarke; four signs in the right of way for Geary Higgins, candidate for Catoctin District Supervisor; one large sign that was jointly for Ken Reid and Bill Fox, candidates for the Leesburg District seats on the Board of Supervisors and School Board, respectively; and one large sign that was jointly for Clarke and Scott York, who is running for re-election as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. Again, all are Republicans.

York, in particular, should know the rules, since the Board of Supervisors just revised the county’s sign regulations last February, and York voted in favor of the revision.

There are several reasons why I feel that it is important for candidates to obey the sign laws.

First, the laws were put in place by local officials primarily for aesthetic and safety reasons. The county has had a long-standing ban on billboards, and this is one of the reasons the rural countryside here is so attractive. And signs in the right of way create a potential safety hazard.

But mainly, it is a matter of fairness. Those who violate the zoning ordinance – scofflaws, if you will – gain a competitive advantage over their opponents who obey the law.

It’s not fair for someone who apparently doesn’t think it is important to abide by the zoning ordinance to gain an edge in name recognition over candidates who obey the law. Candidates who follow the county requirements for aesthetic or safety reasons, or simply because they believe in following the law, are at a disadvantage.

Of course, voters have a way to turn the tables on the scofflaws. We can vote for their opponents.