City council discusses sign fines
BY BRADLEY "B.J." DAVIS, JR. Gulf Breeze News bjdavis@gulfbreezenews.com

Five Man Electrical Band once sang "Sign, sign, everywhere a sign," but Gulf Breeze City Council is not singing about the excessive sign placement that is becoming problematic in the city.

"We have a section in the Code that prohibits snipe signs. Snipe signs are the types of signs that are placed in the right-of-way, in the medians of [Hwy.] 98 and on corners that obstruct sight distances, they're a nuisance, they further promulgate further placement of signs like those," said City Manager Edwin "Buz" Eddy.

His suggestion for a response to business-owner signage blitz: a fine.

"We would like the council to authorize staff to develop an ordinance to amend [the section of Code] to provide for a cash penalty provision for the placement of snipe signs," said Eddy. The biggest offenders include one-day-only sale and realtor open house signs, according to officials.

"There would be an immediate cash penalty much like a citation so that the cost of staff going out to remove the signs would be covered. The placement of snipe signs is often 'weekend sale coming,' and by the time staff gets [a chance] to take the signs down, the individual placing the signs has accomplished his mission," said Eddy.

Fines could range anywhere from $50 to $500 and a required court appearance depending on the number of offenses, city staff says.

"We could also pursue criminal charges which, if convicted, would be a second degree misdemeanor," said Director of Community Services Craig S. Carmichael. "I am not sure how we will work out the details as it pertains to an occurrence or multiple signs."

The latest business that created notice was Consignment Furniture located in the Live Oak Shopping Center across from Gulf Breeze Hospital. The business recently placed a number of signs along Hwy. 98 advertising a sale.

"Consignment Furniture is one of our worst offenders. They were the straw that broke the camel's back," said Carmichael. "They placed 25 to 30 sign in the 98 right-of-way several weeks ago and we had to call someone in after hours to remove them. This places an extra expense on the City with overtime and such. The fines would help us recover those expenses." The owner of Consignment Furniture was unavailable for comment.

Lori Menke, broker for ERA Spencer Realty, inquired about open house signs, which are primarily displayed on Sundays for only a few hours.

"For open house purposes on Sunday from one to four, it's primarily Sunday 90 percent of the time, we have historically put [signs] on Hwy. 98 with a turn arrow into a specific subdivision. [They're] up at noon, down by five for the open house from one to four," said Menke. "If I'm not allowed to do it, I'm not going to do it, but it's going to hurt the homeowners because people, for the most part, don't know where [certain roads are]." Eddy responded by saying it was a violation of the code and added, "The problem with real estate open house signs is not with one or two, but with seven signs. A garage sale sign isn't a problem because they go out Friday night and Saturday afternoon, they're gone. That's not what we're talking about." He further compared the violations to traffic concerns.

"It's the same for thing for speeding. We're not talking about everybody that's going 36 miles per hour is going to get a speeding ticket," he said. "We're talking about the most egregious violations and those people that repeatedly violate the ordinance."