SANFORD, Fla. — With election season in full swing, there are plenty of political campaign signs popping up all over Central Florida.
But local code enforcement officials say some campaigns are illegally posting some of those signs.
- Code enforcement says there's been illegal sign posting
- Residents are saying it's blocking their view on the road
- Cities, counties can charge campaign for cost of pulling signs
People who live near the Sanford airport say the intersection of Mellonville Avenue and Airport Boulevard is already a dangerous one.
“It’s real bad,” said Orrick Dennis, a Sanford resident.
But Dennis says recently the intersection has gotten even worse thanks to lots of campaign signs.
Another resident reached out to Spectrum News 13 saying she’s had trouble turning out onto Airport Boulevard because the signs block her view.
Dennis says he’s avoiding the intersection all together.
“You can really get out there unless you stick your car all the way in the middle of the intersection to see, so I started going the other way,” said Dennis.
After Spectrum News 13’s Jeff Allen reached out to the City of Sanford, code enforcement says they sent an officer to the area. On Tuesday morning, that code enforcement officer was taking most of the signs down.
City officials say under Florida state law, yard signs aren’t allowed on public property, especially when they’re in the right-of-way of a city or county road.
“I’m mostly worried somebody’s going to come by and not see me sticking out with those signs coming from the other direction and hit me,” said Dennis.
The only signs the city didn’t remove are ones they say were placed on private property after a campaign got permission from the property owner.
Cities and counties can make campaigns pay for the cost of pulling signs. Sanford code enforcement says at this point they haven’t found it necessary to do that.