Burgeoning signs a sign of times

You can pull them yourself, or let the county do it.

“It’s just a reminder,” said John Petsch of the Lane County Public Works Department. “Especially with the summer coming up and yard and garage sales.”

Petsch was talking about small, roadside signs — election signs, real estate signs, business signs, yard sale signs, etc. — placed illegally in county right of ways. In unincorporated parts of the Eugene-Springfield area, that means in the planting area between sidewalks and curbs. In rural areas, that means between road pavement and fences.

“We prefer they be on private property,” Petsch said.

This being an election year, election signs were ubiquitous last month with the primary election, and will be again come this fall. But yard sale and garage sale signs are typically a worse problem for the county, Petsch said, even if the county has no time limit on how long election signs on private property can be posted.

The city of Eugene. meanwhile, only allows election signs 60 days before an election, and up to five days afterward. The city of Springfield allows them 90 days before and up to three days past an election.

The county makes a public announcement about signs once or twice a year for safety reasons, Petsch said. “It’s a visibility issue or a distraction” to motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, he said.

County public works crews will remove illegally placed signs, along with portable basketball hoops in right of ways, the latter on a complaint basis, Petsch said.

Pulled signs are taken to the county’s Public Works Department office on North Delta Highway and kept for 30 days so owners who wish can retrieve them, Petsch said. After that, they are thrown away or recycled. They are rarely retrieved, Petsch said. “Which is a shame,” he said. “Because they cost money.”

Eugene and Springfield regulate signage on private property by permit.

Some signs are exempt from the city’s land use code, said Mike McKerrow, permit review manager for Eugene’s Building and Permit Services Division. Those would be real estate signs up to 12 square feet, placed on the site of property for sale or lease; election signs on private property up to 12 square feet; and yard or garage sale signs placed on private property, which are allowed three times a year, each for three-day periods.

If you want to put up a sign not under one of those exemptions, such as for your business, you need a permit, McKerrow said. Permits cost between $63 and $158 for a review process, depending on the size of the sign, and between $106 and $528 for the permit up to 200-square foot signs. Anything over that is deemed a billboard, McKerrow said.

There are exemptions for signs in city right of ways, he said. Those include bus signs, city warning signs and hand-held signs for sales, such as when someone stands on a sidewalk to advertise something, McKerrow said.

In Springfield, certain signs, such as election signs and real estate signs, are exempt from the permitting process. Otherwise, small signs cost $125 plus a $100 deposit and can be placed out of right of ways up to 30 days at a time for a total of 60 days a year, said Jackie Murdoch, assistant community services manager.