Max Fennel from Orlando writes in this week ...

"I can't stand to see all of those road-side signs hugging the roadways. Not only are they a legitimate distraction for other drivers, they are just plain ugly too! Any chance we can get rid of them?"

You see them every day on your way to work and some are prominent than others. Some are political while others offer specific and maybe services that sound, to be quite frank, a little shady.

"(Snipe signs) are those little signs that people put out to advertise to get their taxes done, to sell a house, to do any number of other little things,” says Bradley Campbell of Orange County Code Enforcement. “They buy these signs in quantity and just blanket areas."

Campbell’s office has been fighting the good fight to keep these signs off the street. Signs that his office refers to as "snipe signs." And these signs that are important to remove because they become a danger to drivers.

"You've got problems with visibility,” said Campbell. “You've got people that are paying attention to the sign and not paying attention to stop properly and so forth. And it's a nuisance from an attraction standpoint. It doesn't look good."

Several ways of eliminating the signs have been tried. They employ everything from robo-callers that tie up those phone numbers on the signs and fill answering machines, to out-sourcing companies to remove the signs.

"We've been very aggressive as far as Code Enforcement goes in the last two to three years of removing the signs,” said Campbell. “We average anywhere from 100 to 150,000 signs a year."

And that's just in the unincorporated Orange County. That does not include the City of Orlando's limits.

As far as political signs are concerned, they are actually legal for up to 90 days before an election and 10 days after. However, that doesn't mean that they never have problems with those either.

"We only get involved with those if they are in the right of way" Campbell remarked. "Just as they are, we would do the same thing for them as any of the kind of other signs. If it's in the right of way, we are going to take it away."

Orange County Code Enforcement did say that even if you do need to put out a sign say for a garage sale or an open house, you should file for a permit for that if you live in Orange County by going to orangecountyfl.net.

Otherwise, if your sign is in the right of way, they take your sign down too and if you are caught violating code, it could be a fine of up to $150.00 dollars.

Thanks for your question James!

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