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HomeMy WebLinkAboutElection Campaign SignagePolitical Signage Monica Croskey, Deputy City Manager Dana Harmeyer, Deputy City Attorney Kathy Warren, Planning & Community Development Director November 25, 2025 AGENDA •Context •Efforts to Date •Sign Restrictions and the First Amendment •Zoning •Additional Information •Council Discussion and Direction 2 Context •Administrative Directive 3.01 Petitioning, Picketing and Other Expressive Activities in City Buildings and Work Areas “For the period of time when such facility is open for voting and 7 days prior, signs and expressive activities shall be permitted in the areas adjacent to the facility to the extent allowed by the City’s Zoning Ordinance and applicable state law. The City reserves the right to impose additional reasonable, content- and viewpoint- neutral regulations necessary to permit safe and efficient operation of the voting location.” •Received complaints about safety concerns, visual clutter •Council requested staff evaluate the concerns 3 Efforts to Date – Round 1 •March 2025: OPA conducted a stakeholder-informed study •Interviews with campaign representatives from both major parties •Interviews with City staff from Planning, the City Attorney’s Office, Libraries, Parks & Recreation, Voter Registration and Elections •Stakeholders’ feedback focused on: •Potential safety issue of large signs in windy areas posing physical safety risks •Signage congestion in pedestrian zones or near roads (drivers looking at the signs and not being aware of possible pedestrians) •April 2025: To address this feedback Administrative Directive 3.01 was updated to reflect the following changes: •Only signs measuring 26”x16” permitted in the area in front of Building 14 •No signs or tents allowed in the area where the ballot box is located 4 Efforts to Date – Round 2 •Received additional complaints and concerns •June 2, 2025: 2-hour meeting with campaign and party representatives from both major parties and staff from CMO, CAO, PLN •Parties wanted to explore capping number of signs per candidate/issue •City Attorney’s Office advised of the associated legal constraints •Parties agreed that reducing allowable signage size would be beneficial •June 25, 2025: To address feedback Administrative Directive 3.01 was updated to reflect the following change •As owner of property and in light of safety concerns related to high winds during storms and other events, the City will not allow signs larger than 4 feet by 4 feet at the Municipal Center or any location that is used as a polling place 5 Sign Restrictions and the First Amendment •Controlling case: Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) •Town of Gilbert’s sign ordinance treated “Ideological Signs,” “Political Signs,” and “Temporary Directional Signs” differently as to size, duration, and location such signs were permitted. •Holdings: •Any sign restriction or regulation that depends on the content of the sign or requires distinctions based on the message a speaker conveys is a content-based regulation of speech. •Content-based sign regulations are presumptively unconstitutional and subject to strict scrutiny. •Time, place, and manner restrictions remain available. •Time: e.g. signs at Building 14 may be placed 7 days prior to the facility being used as a polling location and removed 24 hours after an election. •Place: e.g. signs cannot block the sidewalk or access to the dropbox; no sign within the 40- foot restricted zone •Manner: e.g. signs cannot be larger than 4’x4;’ no bullhorns or amplified sound 6 Sign Restrictions and the First Amendment •Content based restrictions are presumptively unconstitutional – regulations that require reference to the content of the sign: •Proscribed number of signs per candidate or per issue •Dividing the space to allow one half for one party and the other half for the other party •Restricting signs to candidates on the ballot •Possible limitations that are not content based: •No signs on the property adjacent to Building 14 or a future location of the Office of the Voter Registrar. •The City would retain the ability to place City signage (“government speech”) directing voters to the appropriate door and to mark the 40-foot restricted zone. •The City would have to allow canvassers and campaign representatives outside the restricted zone that seek to interact with persons accessing the polling location. Such canvassers could hold signs. •A finite number of signs on the property irrespective of content of sign. •A height or size limitation applicable to all signs on the property. For example, no signs taller than 26’’ (e.g. yard signs only). 7 Zoning Zoning Ordinance, Article 2 B. Sign Regulations, Section 211 (b) Temporary Signs •Within a Preservation, Agricultural, Residential, Apartment, or Historic and Cultural District, or a noncommercial area of a PD-H1 or PD-H2 Planned Development District, a total of sixteen (16) square feet of temporary signage shall be allowed on a lot. •Within all other districts, a total of thirty-two (32) square feet of temporary signage shall be allowed on a lot. •In all Districts, no such sign shall be higher than eight (8) feet above grade directly below such sign. No signs permitted in the ROW or on Public Property except for designated polling places 8 Zoning Enforcement •Complaint-based •One Zoning Inspector FTE assigned solely to address campaign signs August 1st before November Election •In September, all Zoning inspectors address campaign sign complaints in their areas and proactively remove campaign signs in the ROW or on public property •Signs that are removed by staff from the ROW or on public property are disposed of •Signs on private property that exceed size restriction are sent a Notice of Violation (NOV) and asked to remove within 30 days 9 Additional Information 10 Signage on City Property Rules Across Hampton Roads Chesapeake Prohibits private, non-governmental signs on City property Hampton Prohibits private, non-governmental signs on City property Newport News Allows up to 30 consecutive days per event, up to 3 times per calendar year Norfolk Allows at early voting and polling locations, 5pm day prior to first day of voting at location Portsmouth Prohibits private, non-governmental signs on City property Suffolk Allows yard signs at polling locations on election day Virginia Beach Allows at early voting 7 days prior to first day of voting beginning at location, beginning at 12:01am day of election at polling locations Additional Information •Growing tensions and frustrations regarding signage •Soon early voting will occur in new Voter Registrar location •No longer on municipal campus •Condo association with private businesses •Will need to develop new maps for signage; any guidance Council would like to provide on this? 11 Council Questions and Discussion 12