Marco Island City Council to consider ordinance allowing temporary signs in all right-of-ways

Marco Island City Council will consider Monday an ordinance which would allow temporary signs in the public right-of-way in all zoning districts.

It would also allow the city to remove signs not in compliance with regulations.

In residential districts, signs may be placed in the public right-of-way between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., according to the Code of Ordinances. The code also regulates the size of signs.

The lack of sign regulation for commercial districts makes Code Enforcement unable to remove signs in the right-of-way, according to a staff report from last year.

"Currently, signs are only regulated in the right-of ways abutting residential zoning districts and are silent in commercial zoning districts," as stated in the report.

From 2019:Marco Island City Council may allow signs in all rights-of-way

City Council passed a motion on Oct. 25 instructing staff to propose a code amendment that would regulate temporary signs in the right-of-way.

"Clearly, the fact that commercial right-of-ways were not given a time-limit I think it is the big issue here," said Councilor Jared Grifoni on Oct. 25. "So if we are going to treat residential and commercial right-of-way the same then we should have the same time limit."

City Council elected Grifoni as vice-chair on Nov. 4.

Councilors Larry Honig and Grifoni said they would like Code Enforcement to be allowed to throw away signs that are in violation.

"You pick up a couple of my signs and throw them away, I got the message," Honig said

"Those signs are going to dry up pretty quick because that's a waste of money," Grifoni said

Councilors Charlette Roman and Howard Reed voted against the motion, which passed 5-2.

"I think there is a potential for sign pollution with all these signs going out, particularly in season," Roman said. "I'd like it to see it minimized to some degree."

"I believe that it is in the best interest of the city to ban almost all signs in the swales, in the public right-of-way,[...] both residential and commercial," Reed said. "These signs represent visual pollution and clutter."

City Council on Monday can either adopt the proposed changes on first reading or send them to the Planning Board for review, according to a March staff report.

Omar Rodríguez Ortiz is a community reporter for Naples Daily News and Marco Eagle. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram as @Omar_fromPR, and on Facebook. Support his work by subscribing to Naples Daily News.