A new ordinance under consideration would get rid of Georgetown County's political sign regulations and allow businesses to use more temporary signage.
At its meeting on Tuesday, County Council heard a committee recommendation to remove all references to political signs from the county's sign ordinance.
The political sign regulations were removed from the ordinance under review by the committee and at the same time, another ordinance was in the works that would change other temporary sign regulations, said Councilman Austin Beard, chairman of the Land Use and Tourism Committee.
So the four-member committee recommended doing away with the ordinance that would have just removed the political sign regulations and incorporate that change in with the other proposed temporary sign ordinance changes, Beard said.
The new, all-encompassing ordinance was given first reading in name only on Tuesday.
Council will vote on the proposed changes for the first time at its next meeting on April 26.
The issue of political signs was first brought up at a council meeting in February because of the amount of controversy their regulation causes, according to county planning department staff.
Under the current ordinance, political signs are allowed on private property 100 days before an election and have to be removed 14 days after. A $100 bond must be posted for the sign to ensure that it is removed within the 14-day period.
But according to meeting documents, many people are not aware of the county's regulations on political campaign signs and one of the largest problems is candidates not getting permits for their signs.
If council votes to do away with the county's regulation of political signs, state regulations, which simply state that signs are not allowed in road rights-of-way, will take over, said County Administrator Sel Hemingway.
Some other proposed changes include allowing temporary banner signs for businesses and allowing one temporary sandwich board without a permit per business.
If approved, banner signs not more than 24 square feet would be allowed for 28 days per calendar year and sandwich board signs, not more than 42 inches high and 24 inches wide, will be allowed in front of businesses during business hours without a permit.
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