ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Advertising products and services from T-shirt sales to construction cleanup, Orange County medians and street corners are littered with illegally placed signs that could cost tens of thousands of dollars to clean up.
Right now, the county doesn’t have enough manpower to remove the signs, which pop up faster than crews can take them down, Code Enforcement Manager Bob Spivey said.
The county is starting a pilot plan to hire an outside company to clean up the signs and report companies that illegally place them, Spivey said.
The cost to taxpayers will be about $130,000, but based on the number of people who have complained about the signs, Spivey believed it was money well spent.
“I think there’s been enough outcry about these signs that an investment of $130,000 is very popular,” he said.
Many of the companies that are advertised on the illegal signs would not comment on their placement, but Mitch Turner, the owner of a construction clean-up company, didn’t realize his sign was breaking the law.
“We don’t (put them out),” he said. “We hire a company to do it.”
County crews spending part of each day removing signs take down about 100,000 a year, Spivey said.
A vendor could remove three times as many, he said.
Companies can currently be fined $150 for each illegally placed sign, but enforcement is in the hands of the court system.
Orange County government officials are considering increasing the fine later this year.
The company contracted to pick up the signs will be compensated per sign, so the $130,000 contract could increase or decrease depending on the number of signs removed, Spivey said.
The contract would also require tracking companies placing illegal signs so Code Enforcement can levy fines, he said.
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