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Chattanooga: Council taking hard look at banning signs in some areas

By: Cliff Hightower
(Contact)

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Jack Benson

A barrage of signs ranging from political campaigns to the selling of homes posted in some Chattanooga rights-of-way has some city officials playing musical chairs, taking down sign after sign.

Some signs recently cropping up are perfectly legal — those that are political or selling real estate. But city officials are discussing a ban on all signs in rights-of-way such as roundabouts, medians and traffic islands.

“It’s inappropriate to put up advertising in the confines of a right-of-way,” traffic engineer John Van Winkle said.

The City Council’s Legal and Legislative Committee meets today and will hear a presentation about the number of signs and what types of signs are being placed in various roundabouts and similar rights-of-way. Councilman Jack Benson, chairman of the committee, said Monday he has questions about what is covered by the city’s current code, enacted in 1989.

Just in the last few weeks, he has heard complaints in his district about a real estate sign placed in the middle of a roundabout on Igou Gap Road, he said. Mr. Benson said he did not know which real estate company placed the sign.

“We’re going to see what steps we can take without violating First Amendment rights,” he said.

Richard Hutsell, city zoning official, said he and his workers take down thousands of signs a year that do not meet the criteria of the city’s code. Signs must be seven feet from the curb and not obstruct view, he said, and the only signs that can be placed in rights of way involve political campaigns and real estate.

“The political signs aren’t that much of a headache,” Mr. Hutsell said.

But every year, people place signs advertising Web sites or insurance or a variety of things, he said. Usually, the people who place the signs cannot be contacted to take them down because they don’t live around here, he said.

“A lot of them are people we can’t reach out and touch,” he said.

City records from 2006 show a total of 6,879 signs were taken down.

Now, with roundabouts becoming more prevalent, there has been some discussion about whether any signs should be allowed within them. Mr. Van Winkle said signs do not match the roundabouts’ aesthetics and potentially are dangerous if someone is looking at them while driving the roundabout.

“It’s tightening the restrictions to prevent that clutter,” he said.

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