Leonardtown, MD — The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County are considering a proposal to change the way signs are regulated. The commissioners will hold a public hearing on a proposal presented at their April 5th meeting by County Attorney George Sparling and Director of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM) Phil Shire.
Sparling said the key to the proposal was “simplicity, fairness and constitutionality.” Shire noted, “Our regulations now are bogged down in detail.” One of those details eliminated was the requirement for sign permits.
But the proposal does make some signs illegal. Sparling said one example were the real estate signs strung along the highway, which he described as similar to the historic Burma Shave signs. Another would be the advertising signs plastered on the sides of liquor stores (they are already illegal under the current regulations). And the proposal on size limitations could impact future billboards.
The regulations limit the size of signs to nine square feet on residential property and 32 square feet on non-residential properties. Commercial and digital signs are prohibited on residential properties but Sparling said they could have a sign noting a home-occupation.
Non-residential properties can have one sign. In addition, they can have functional signs and event signs. Functional signs include name of the business, 911 address, security system identification, sale or lease signs, no trespassing and soliciting signs, and directional signs.
Commissioner John O’Connor [R – District 3]raised the issue of larger signs advertising candidates during elections on residential property. Sparling said treating political signs different from other signs would get the county into regulating content which has been ruled unconstitutional.
So as currently written, political signs on residential property would be limited to nine square feet, similar to some of the candidate’s yard signs, and would prohibit anything larger.
But Sparling noted that the size limitations included in the regulations were up to the commissioners to decide and could be changed to any other size. The size limitation would also seriously effect billboards, which are usually larger than 32 square feet.
The proposal does, however, contain a provision for existing non-conforming signs to be continued to some as yet-to-be-determined date. The clock began ticking April 5 for the expiration of that unspecified grace period for non-conforming signs.
The Department of Land Use and Growth Management came under fire when it enforced the regulations on advertising signs on store facades in the case of the Chaptico Market. But Shire said since those signs were removed the store has remained successful.
That enforcement led to the commissioners suggesting a review of the sign regulations. County staff has been meeting for about six months to draft the proposal that is now before the commissioners and will soon be before the public at a hearing.
The proposal calls for violations of the proposed regulations to be a civil infraction. But Sparling emphasized to the commissioners that the intent of the regulations was to stay away from any prohibitions on what individuals can do on their private residential property.
During the brief discussion on the proposal at the April 5 meeting Commissioner Mike Hewitt [R – District 2] recused himself from the discussion. Although he did not state the reason, Hewitt is a businessman who could be affected by the regulation proposal.
The public hearing date has not yet been announced.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com