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Planning Director Clarifies Political Sign Rules for County Land
Flathead County Planning and Zoning Department hopes to help local candidates avoid confusion
The 2012 general elections are approaching in November, and the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Department hopes to help local candidates avoid confusion when it comes to political signage regulations in rural areas of the county.
According to Flathead County Planning Director BJ Grieve, his department received multiple requests for information about signage regulation before June’s primary election, and many of the campaigns interpreted the rules differently.
That led to confusion and distraction from the campaigning process, Grieve wrote in a letter sent to all of the candidates registered as running in the general elections.
To “promote consistency and clarity,” Grieve outlined the county’s political signage regulations in the letter. In rural Flathead County, political signs are regulated in all zoned areas located on private land outside of road easements and rights-of-way.
Flathead County has an Interactive Mapping Site (IMS) that can be used to view and determine zoned and unzoned areas. Visit ww.flathead.mt.gov/gis and click on the “Interactive Mapping” link.
A political sign is defined in the Flathead County Zoning Regulations as “a sign with a message advocating a particular candidate, party or proposition,” and a sign is defined as “any medium or visual communication, including its supporting structure and source of light, which is used or intended to be used to attract attention to a location or subject matter for advertising, instruction or informational purposes.”
Political signs are “exempt in zoned areas” if they are not larger than 32 square feet and are not erected more than 30 days before the election or event they promote. Given that mail-in ballots will be mailed out on Oct. 9, Grieve said his department’s interpretation of the regulations is that political signs for the Nov. 6 election meeting the prior requirements may not be posted before midnight on Sept. 9.
Anyone with questions is invited to call the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Department at 406-751-8200.
According to Flathead County Planning Director BJ Grieve, his department received multiple requests for information about signage regulation before June’s primary election, and many of the campaigns interpreted the rules differently.
That led to confusion and distraction from the campaigning process, Grieve wrote in a letter sent to all of the candidates registered as running in the general elections.
Flathead County has an Interactive Mapping Site (IMS) that can be used to view and determine zoned and unzoned areas. Visit ww.flathead.mt.gov/gis and click on the “Interactive Mapping” link.
A political sign is defined in the Flathead County Zoning Regulations as “a sign with a message advocating a particular candidate, party or proposition,” and a sign is defined as “any medium or visual communication, including its supporting structure and source of light, which is used or intended to be used to attract attention to a location or subject matter for advertising, instruction or informational purposes.”
Political signs are “exempt in zoned areas” if they are not larger than 32 square feet and are not erected more than 30 days before the election or event they promote. Given that mail-in ballots will be mailed out on Oct. 9, Grieve said his department’s interpretation of the regulations is that political signs for the Nov. 6 election meeting the prior requirements may not be posted before midnight on Sept. 9.
Anyone with questions is invited to call the Flathead County Planning and Zoning Department at 406-751-8200.
Once again an incomplete message. Why were there no instructions as to when these signs, which become eyesores and litter following an election, HAVE TO BE REMOVED?
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