As the days count down toward the May 7th municipal primary election, incumbents at Carmel City Hall have issued directives to departmental administrators to vigorously (if unevenly) enforce city ordinances pertaining to the placement of signage around town promoting candidates for office. There have been many reports from across the city of the signs of challengers being removed by Carmel Street Department workers and others, while those of incumbents remain left alone — even if blatantly in the right-of-way.
Section 5.39 SI-01 of the City of Carmel Unified Development Ordinance and its subsections detail specific standards related to the placement of signs within the city.
Of specific note is Subsection (P), which sets the regulations for ‘Yard Signs in a Residential District’:
a) SIGN CLASSIFICATION: Ground.
b) NUMBER & TYPE: No restrictions.
c) MAXIMUM SIGN AREA: 16 square feet total for premises.
d) MAXIMUM HEIGHT OF GROUND SIGN: Six (6) feet.
e) LOCATION: Shall be a minimum of five (5) feet from the street right-of-way.
f) DESIGN: As per definition of Ground sign.
g) REQUIRED APPROVALS: None.
h) TIME: No time limit.
i) FEES: Not required.
Therefore, according to municipal ordinance, any residential property owner within the city may erect one or more campaign signs on his or her property, provided such signs confirm to the requirements of Subsection (P) above.
But how does a residential property owner really know where the edge of the street right-of-way abuts his or her property? The City of Carmel maintains a Geographic Information System (GIS), with various mapping data overlays available. Within the GIS viewer, simply select ‘Parcels’ from the Layer List and ‘2018 Photography’ to show where parcel boundaries abut street right-of-way. The yellow boundary lines show where the parcel boundaries — including abutment to street right-of-way — exist.
This, of course, brings up a series of questions about the uneven enforcement of the sign ordinances during the final weeks of this campaign season:
Why are only challengers signs being targeted and not all non-compliant signs?
Why are Street Department personnel purportedly telling property owners that signs must be placed a minimum of 12 feet back from any easement and right-of-way, when the current ordinance (enacted in 2017 by the same incumbents now seeking re-election) only requires a minimum of 5 feet from the street right-of-way and does not even mention easements?
Are there potential First Amendment or other legal issues in the arbitrary and uneven removal of campaign signs?
Why are the mayor and council incumbents trying to silence their opponents by denying the latter the opportunity to get their names out in public? What possible rational argument could the incumbents make for denying challengers the same opportunities that they enjoy to publicize their candidacies? What are the incumbents fearful of?
As with other issues of importance to Carmel voters, ask each candidate the hard questions. Listen to their responses and then cast an informed vote on May 7th.
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