York Campaign Heats Up, So Do Sign Complaints

By Sam Thrift Wednesday, July 27, 2011

With the Republican primaries about a month away, York County residents are beginning to see candidates’ names lining the roads on campaign signs throughout the community. Although the signs of support seemed to appear overnight, some will notice signs starting to disappear just as fast.

Where these political signs have been placed has become an issue at the York County zoning office. Joycelyn Corbin, a York County zoning and code enforcement officer, has been receiving complaints about the placement of some of the political signs.

“This political season is no different than any other where signs are often times placed illegally,” said Corbin in an email.

Sid Holloway, director of the Just Cause Foundation – a non-profit organization that supports local government- said he is concerned that the issue is less about the placement of the signs and more about the politics.

“I put a bunch of campaign signs up along Route 17 in lower York County for the District 4 challenger [Jim Haas],” Holloway said. “I put them up the night of May 25, just before the Memorial Day weekend. The very next morning, our candidate received a call advising that some of his signs were in the state right of way.”

To clarify the proper way to advertise their campaigns, Corbin sent a letter to every candidate running in the August 23 primary earlier this week, describing the exact rules on placing signs.

The letter said that political signs cannot be located within or project over any public highway or street right-of-way and signs larger than six square feet in area are not allowed on private property. Political headquarters signs cannot exceed 32 square feet in area, require a permit prior to putting up the sign and are only permitted in commercial or industrial districts. The letter added that just one political headquarters sign per candidate is allowed.

“The Zoning Staff, in our travels have picked up and removed signs that are in violation of the County's policy and will continue to do so throughout the political season,” Corbin said.

Corbin said York County residents can contact the campaign managers or the zoning office at 890-3523 if they have a concern about a sign.