Say no to sign company rewrite of sign ordinance

After a year of task force meetings and Sussex County Council debate on the county's billboard and sign ordinance – meetings aimed at developing consensus among county officials, business owners, sign company owners and representatives of the public – council finally proposed a new ordinance in August.

But almost before the ordinance could be read, sign company owners cried foul. They insist the proposed ordinance is a departure from regulations that the task force had generally agreed on.

Now the planning and zoning commission has weighed in on the new ordinance, siding in large part with sign owners. Council also appears ready to give in, citing a general lack of public interest because the public did not attend hours of meetings during which proposed regulations were discussed in mind-numbing detail.

One thing is clear. Sign companies are arguing for the right to place larger signs – including digital billboards – on commercially zoned land in Sussex County. The sign companies want county officials to allow larger signs – some twice as large as currently allowed – and they want to place them closer to roadways and closer together than the new distances council has proposed.

Among the most arrogant proposals to date is that many commercial real estate signs already exceed the size allowed, so why not just allow larger signs?

No.

That is what the Chinese would call cutting the feet to fit the shoes. Not good for feet, and not good for laws. One of the reasons citizens are not up in arms about the sign ordinance is that they don't understand what is currently allowed or not allowed because the ordinance is not enforced.

It's time for citizen groups, such as the League of Women Voters or Lewes Scenic Byway supporters, to mobilize citizens to let council know the public wants firm restrictions on digital billboards and on where billboards can be placed and how big they can be.

Sign companies have already proven they will push any boundary that is set.

It's up to citizens to push back before we wake up to find our roadways looking more like Times Square than scenic Delaware.