Campaign against sign clutter

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1998 | 11:14 a.m.

Since July 1996, the city of Las Vegas has confiscated more than 14,700 illegal signs that have cluttered commercial lots and blighted neighborhoods.

However, one community activist, Chris Christoff, says the city isn't doing enough, especially when it comes to the proliferation of political signs that appear to be more prevalent than in prior years.

In response to Christoff and others who share his feelings, the city says it cannot apply its sign-clutter ordinance to political signs, which are protected by state laws, a different city ordinance and the First Amendment.

"I believe the (sign-clutter) ordinance should cover political signs, especially the ones that are put up on commercial lots without the owners' permission," Christoff said.

"These things look so sick -- improperly installed and leaning on each other. They make the property look like a junkyard, especially along West Sahara Avenue, Charleston Boulevard and throughout northwest Las Vegas."

Orlando Sanchez, manager of the city's Neighborhood Services Department, says the city is concerned about what illegal signs do to the aesthetics of an area.

He says in addition to pulling down so many signs in such a short period, the city has levied $11,700 in fines, $2,620 of which has been collected in 26 months.

"We are pretty diligent," Sanchez said, noting that more of the levies are expected to be collected through additional business-license fees for the offenders who failed to pay the fines and, if necessary, through legal action by the city attorney's office.

"We have a city employee who travels around removing signs that are in violation. But, when it comes to political signs, most people understand that it is a First Amendment issue and they accept that it is only a problem for a short while."

Sanchez said that of the 14,753 illegal signs confiscated between July 2, 1996, and last Wednesday, a "very small percentage" were political signs that were left up 15 days after an election -- the time limit mandated by city ordinance.

When political signs are found standing 15 days after an election, warnings are issued to the violators. If the signs are not removed within five additional days, the city confiscates them and bills the offending candidates for what the cleanup cost the taxpayers, Sanchez said.

Christoff said the law should allow candidates to get their message out but without cluttering the landscape.

"If one guy puts up a sign on a lot, it attracts everyone else to do it and soon you have a real mess," he said. "Some lots have three or four signs for the same candidate."

And political signs aren't the only problem, Christoff says, noting that the city is dotted with signs offering rentals, advertising yard sales, promoting concerts, etc.

"To try to get around the free-standing sign regulations, people put the signs on fences that were intended to keep signs (and debris) off vacant lots," Christoff said.

Sanchez says the city is on top of that problem. He said his workers remove not only illegal signs on fences but also those nailed to utility poles and trees.

One offender, a New York record promoter, recently was issued a sign fine of $4,330 -- the largest such fine issued by the city.

Sanchez said the record company's workers nailed so many illegal signs to the palm trees on medians within the downtown beautification project and at other locations that it took six city workers four days to remove all of them. The city has yet to receive payment of the fine.

Sanchez said the city has made its greatest strides against illegal signs in the past two years by greatly reducing the number of so-called weekend directional signs put up by developers to entice people to view their new homes.

The city's ordinance outlaws a clustering of such signs, creating a limit of one every 300 feet. Weekend directional signs are allowed to be posted only from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday.

"We have seen a significant reduction in these signs in the last year," said City Councilman Arnie Adamsen, who represents Ward 2 in southwest Las Vegas.

"The developer has to pay $5 to get each sign back. That may not seem like a lot, but when you are talking about as many as 100 signs (per weekend) it can add up."

Sanchez says the city keeps confiscated signs 30 to 45 days, then sends the unclaimed placards to the dump.

Sanchez said enforcement is flexible when it comes to the occasional sign posted on a street corner promoting a one-weekend yard sale. Those, he said, are overlooked if they are not posted in a such a way that they are a public hazard or impede traffic.

Christoff said he believes one reason some areas are cluttered with signs is because the landowners live in other states and rarely visit their vacant Las Vegas lots.

"They don't live here, they don't fence their land for whatever reason and they apparently don't care if someone clutters their million-dollar property with these ugly signs," Christoff said.

"But those of us who live here have to put up with them every day."