VERO BEACH — In response to protests from Realtors claiming the city’s one-foot by one-foot sign restriction on residential for sale signs is discriminatory, the Vero Beach City Council Tuesday directed staff to bring back an ordinance limiting all temporary signs to a standard 18 inches by 24 inches.
That’s essentially they way the Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended the ordinance earlier this year, but when it got to the City Council the smaller real estate sign size was retained by a 3-2 vote with Mayor Pilar Turner and Councilwoman Tracy Carroll dissenting.
Councilman Dick Winger said he is concerned about the appearance of all temporary commercial signs which pop up around the city.
“I’m just against all large signs, period,” Winger said.
Mostly the high-end beachside real estate brokers had pushed to keep the more inconspicuous signage, but the Realtors Association of Indian River County fought for increasing the size of the signs to help advertise homes for sale in a down market.
The council also expressed a desire to hold political signs to the same 18 inch by 24 inch standard, but both City Attorney Wayne Coment and Planning Director Tim McGarry cautioned that campaign signs are political speech, which is Constitutionally protected. The staff will bring back case law to demonstrate why the council should tread lightly on any restriction of political signage.
The matter will be brought back up at another meeting and must pass through two public hearings before it officially changes. City Manager Jim O’Connor said, however, that because the council is revisiting the issue, that the city’s code enforcement officers would not move to cite any of the larger signs in the interim.
McGarry pointed out that code enforcement does not remove non-compliant signs or signs without permits from private property, only from the right of way. He said the staff makes a call to anyone displaying a sign on private property which violates the code.
