DPS Fields Reports About Election Signs on Private Property and in the Right of Way
The Primary Election may be still a month away but candidate signs are popping up across Montgomery County and some of them has been placed illegally in the right of way and on private property.
So who enforces the county’s sign ordinance?
Ehsan Motazedi is the division chief for the Department of Permitting Services Division of Zoning and Site Plan Enforcement, and, he says, his department has removed “hundreds of illegal signs” this month.
He said DPS has received only a few complaints about illegal signs on private property.
“Majority of the complaints have been for illegal signs in the public right-of-way,” said Motazedi in an email. “The number of complaints will increase as we get closer to the election and the candidates are placing more signs.”
So far, he said, about 20 complaints have been received about signs in the public right-of-way.
According to Motazedi, when a complaint is received a service request is created to investigate it.
“The inspector inspects the location and removes all illegally placed signs from the public right of way and then closes the service request,” he explained. “If the signs are on private property, the homeowner is educated about the law and how many and the size of the signs that can be installed.”
When asked about the political signs that were removed by the Department of Permitting Services, Motazedi said they were primarily David Trone signs, and a few Jamie Raskin political signs.
“We are preparing correspondence to go to all political candidates regarding our sign ordinance,” he said.
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