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1 <br />ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING & INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT <br />Craig N. Benedict, AICP, Director <br />eoontP o! ®' <br />Administration 306F Revere Road <br />(919) 245 -2575 17 ° 4 52 P O Box 8181 <br />(919) 644 -3002 (FAX) Hillsborough, NC 27278 <br />WWW.co.orange.nc.us ° <<6 Cst°ce <br />iii <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: John M. Link, Jr., County Manager <br />Board of County Commissioners <br />FROM: Craig N. Benedict, AICP <br />DATE: - August 30, 2004 <br />SUBJECT: Political Signs and Sign Enforcement <br />CC: Geoffrey Gledhill, County Attorney <br />Robert Davis, County Planning Supervisor <br />Below is a synopsis of the County's existing political sign regulations and an annotation of <br />the enforcement process that County Planning and staff will employ for the November 2 "d <br />election. <br />The permit process and enforcement phase is undergoing heightened scrutiny by <br />candidates, local jurisdictions, complainants, newspapers and the courts, so these new <br />procedures will be more aligned with existing regulations and less flexible. Past practices <br />before and after my arrival may have been more pragmatic in nature than regulatory. There <br />have been discussions in recent years regarding the difficulty in universally enforcing the <br />existing ordinance but I believe political sign enforcement has to be conducted with the <br />following practices: <br />1. Clear, unambiguous regulations that clearly inform the candidate <br />2. Written understanding acknowledging the rules by the candidate during the <br />candidate enrollment process. <br />3. Understanding by all government departments about the signage rules and /or <br />deferral to planning. <br />4. Fair, equitable and expeditious enforcement of all signs that do not meet <br />standards. 'All' refers to what can reasonably be removed if within a right -of -way <br />during a normal course of work by a zoning enforcement officer. <br />