FARMINGTON – Town officials are now allowing campaign signs to be posted in a West Farmington traffic island after a recent challenge to an ordinance that once prohibited their posting in an area where the town has a community message board.
Last amended in 2010, the town’s sign ordinance included a provision banning all “election and campaign signs” from three traffic islands: at the intersection of Farmington Falls Road and Main Street, near Center Bridge; at the intersections of Wilton Road, Bridge Street and Water Street, where there is a small garden and community events sign; and at the intersection of High Street and Farmington Falls Road, near Bjorn Park.
Recently, the town’s ordinance was challenged for not allowing political signs at the traffic island in West Farmington where a community events sign is located.
The town consulted with a staff member at the Maine Municipal Association and was told it can’t ban certain types of signs and still allow the community message board that lists upcoming events to be posted.
“We can’t pick and choose” which signs can be allowed, Town Manager Richard Davis said on Monday.
Currently, four political signs have been posted along the traffic island along Wilton Road. Under the current ordinance, campaign signs are still prohibited at the traffic islands at Farmington Falls Road and Main Street and at the intersection of High Street and Farmington Falls Road, near Bjorn Park.
At a public hearing on Oct. 14, town officials attempted to amend the sign ordinance to include the provision of banning all signs from those three traffic islands and adding a fourth island to the list at Temple Road, Oakes and Bridge streets in West Farmington.
The target of the ordinance change had been, in part, to also ban all other temporary signs such as yard sale signs from being posted in the traffic islands. In a statement of fact presented in the town meeting warrant, the change was explained as being safety related, as the signs distract drivers approaching intersections.
At the public hearing, voters overwhelmingly rejected the attempt to change the ordinance. Much of the discussion focused on regulating temporary sign advertising that proposed limiting businesses to a total of 30 days per year to post signs and for signs not to exceed 30 square feet in size. But, the section that would have prohibited all signs from traffic islands received no objection by residents attending the meeting.
So sad that the only patch of green space that is not littered with campaign signs has to go! Can’t wait for November 5th!
Hard to tell a difference in the traffic island when we’ve still got a three-story, billboard-bearing fire hazard ready to slip into the river behind it….
What is sad is to think someone might base their vote on a piece of garbage on the side of the road. Anyone who does should be banned from voting.
Don’t the candidates realize that most people hate those signs. They don’t sway anyones vote. Really. It does the opposite–the more I see a persons name on signs (and those horrible littering pamphlets) the more I dislike them just for that reason. The signs give no other information except a name. How does that help voters decide? IT DOESN’T!
I agree, JimGoose, I’ve long voted for the candidates that put out the least amount of that crap and waste the least amount of money on campaign tactics such as the signs, mailers and annoying phone calls.
I actually got into an argument with one caller the other day about whether his call was helping his candidate. In the end he explained that they didn’t need my uninformed vote because most regular folks were agreeing with him and planning to vote for his candidate. This all happened during Saturday evening dinner hour!
If I had to choose, I’d get rid of the talking sign, too. I like green, and a Welcome to the home of Seth Westcott would be fine with me.
Think of what could be done with the money all those signs cost? How about you candidates donate that money to a shelter, a program, or some other cause that might actually help our state?
~Kerry~
Stan, lighten up and get over it. You’ll sleep better.
Wow!
“i pick the candidate with the least amount of signs or spends the least on campaign tactics”
Wow!
I would put these people into the same category of people who complain about how their tax dollars are spent but don’t vote.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Everything the government does, from a to z, is done with your hard earned money. I highly suggest people pay attention to where it goes!!
I, for one, will not settle until there is zero waste, fraud, or abuse of my hard earned money at any level of government!
And anybody that says that is impossible is part of the problem.
The main problem with the signs is that for many people, way to many, the signs determine who they will choose to vote for along with T V ads.
Hutch. Yes, even these signs and the rest of the mess is done with my hard earned money and it pi**es me off!
Voting the way I do is my small way of protesting the waste from some of these candidates. Don’t put me in the same category as someone who is not voting. I vote. I have always voted, have voted since before you were born I’d be willing to bet.
I’m voting for less waste. If more people would join in, the candidates getting elected would be the less wasteful ones.
Reason for displaying political signs: NAME RECOGNITION !!
Hutch – that’s impossible.
Mark, I sleep just fine. I’ve been here for 30 years and I love this town. The lawn signs quietly come and go during election season, and the intersection looks great the rest of the time regardless. It’s absurd to me that we’re spending time debating the presence of 1’x2′ paper placards that will disappear in two weeks, but somehow an enormous, obnoxious billboard and rotting vehicle husks not fifty feet away draw zero criticism from the pedants commenting here.
One man’s waste is another man’s necessity. Just sayn’…….
If all the candidates would put the money that they put into signs and telling lies and backstabbing their opponents into funding shelters,food pantries and schools the state of Maine would be a better place to live . Also I do not believe it is right for out of state people and organizations should be allowed to contribute money to the Maine Politians either. Time to make some serious changes in Maine laws.
i am offended by those political signs..please remove them
@stan dryder….because this article is about the signs, not the unsightly property that you obviously hate. And you sir, are participating in this absurd debate with the rest os us!