I like the idea of having supervisors stop and put a bumper sticker on ilegal signs. It should say this sign posted illegally then the supervisors name.

Increase permit fees for political signs. If you cannot do that then how about a 75% refundable bond posted by canidates example= 100 signs $250.00 bond, $187.50 to be refunded when signs are turned into the 80 volunteers that were picking up the illegal signs. $2.50 per sign not turned in after the 25% has been deducted. We have contracted garderners that cut the grass where illegal signs are posted, since they are already insured make them Sign Enforcement Agents (SEA) and have them turn the signs in which could be repurchased by the campaigns for $1.00 a piece. Politicians may not like it but they pay for tv and radio so pay for advertising on our streets.

“Seems kind of fun that some want to deflect the story from where it is:  A 9-0 republican board wants to stop political signs and developer signs from coming down, when those signs are illegally placed. ”  Laugh is right, or should I say correct?

Fines For Signs would generate great revenue.  Volunteers should continue their beautification efforts nonetheless.  Laws don’t seem to apply to those running for office or elected - why the piles of GOP signs?  They’re the worst offenders.

Flashing billboards too?  Oh boy!  How long will it take before we have to change our KLB motto to Keep Loudoun Bright, Keep Loudoun Bought and Paid For, Keep Loudoun Billboarded or Keep Loudoun looking like South of the Border?

Malcolm Baldwin should remove the illegal signs alongside his driveway.  They have been there far too long.

Did anyone notice that Bob Moses (Loudoun County Democrat Committee Member) was credited witht he photo on the front page, that showed only Republican signs picked up in a pile?  Looks like Bob Moses and the LCDC has some selective sign pick-ups and probably stealing them off private property as many complained.  We certainly do not need 80 brown shirts running around picking up signs on private property…

Did Matt show his credentials and explain the discrepency to the workers or did he walk away leaving them uninformed and breaking the law? Since he has seen this more than once are any of the workers able to verify Matts claims?

Why not increase the fee for permits for political campaign signs? As it is it cost the candidate a 10 dollar fee to put unlimited signs up in Loudoun County. Start with the presidential candidates 50 k to post signs, the gov 47,5 k senators 45 k ag 42.5 k and so on right down the line until you get to school board candidates at a cost of 5 hundred dollars for a permit. Stamp of some sort required to post a sign in Loudoun County. 53 thousand signs in the landfills and those are just the illegal signs the 80 volunteers collected.
Yours:

You can’t take things out of the right-of-way.  It is called scavenging (stealing) which is against the law.  A lot of folks store “personal” possessions in the rights-of-way and the county does not seem to take action against that either, let alone the signs.

The only difference is now the volunteers will need to pay the dump fees themselves when they dispose of the signs.

These signs are illegal, and those who put them out should be fined.  But that would mainly hit the politicians sugar daddies and themselves.  So that will never happen.  They win, the rest of us lose.  As usual.

Will the notorious blog whiners now pick up the signs? The time it takes to complain and blog about this dumb volunteer program could be used to beautify their own neighborhood. The big, bad middle-aged keyboard warriors should come out of their parent’s basements, get some fresh air and exercise, and help their community.

Who cares if they suspend the program or not.  The folks who want to continue removing these unlawful eyesores can take some wisdom from a now-deceased person who used to go all around the county picking up “litter” as volunteer work.  They can still choose to “adopt a highway” if they want recognition…or they can remove the litter on their own accord.  Just like most things left in the public right of way, finders, keepers!

Seems kind of fun that some want to deflect the story from where it is:  A 9-0 republican board wants to stop political signs and developer signs from coming down, when those signs are illegally placed.  The new thug 9-0 republican board of supervisors just can’t wait to become the worst board of supervisors that Loudoun County has ever seen.

@Baloney, there is no way VDOT “owns” the underlying fee to the rights-of-way, nor do they want to.  In the VA case of Barter v. Widener, 022400, January 2004, the court stated,  “Because a definite and certain grantee was required in order to take land by conveyance or grant at common law, a landowner could not effectively convey or grant an interest in his land to the general public as grantee.”  All you might have is a dedication to the public for a specific use, and I suspect, in most instances, the dedication of the use did not include signs.  The owner of the right-of-way, if the right-of-way even legally exists, is typically to the center line and is the subject of constant dispute.  You must have unambiguous evidence of the offer for dedication by the underlying owner and acceptance by the public.  The Nathaniel Prince Road case is a good example of a right-of-way mess in Loudoun County and throughout VA.

The volunteers for this program thought they were deputized and held real authority. Many of the commenters on here are malcontents from a local blog that hosts nonstop complaints against this new Board. They also believe they are deputized to fight crime in Loudoun.

Not always true, that is usually only the case with older roads in rural areas, where landowners own to the center of the road.  Most “rights of way” as commonly referred to are not really right of way easements, but are actually owned in-fee by VDOT now.

Regardless of what they are, it is illegal to put roadside signs on either VDOT rights of way, or VDOT owned roadways.  But of course that will not stop the builders and politicians from doing so.

@sad truth.  ROW’s are usually only a right, dedicated by the underlying owner of the land, for a specific purpose, and accepted by the public.  The adjacent owner owns to the middle of any such ROW.  This premise is why homeowners are supposed to maintain the sidewalks in front of their houses too as required by state law.  The county is very remiss in NOT requiring property owners to keep their sidewalk in good repair.  Ask the county attorney and he will make up an excuse as to why certain folks don’t need to fix the sidewalks.

Watch out, everyone advocating picking up sign.  Ken “I Lie” Reid is watching, and the next step by Ken Reid will be to have it a crime to take signs, especially his.  And along with way, don’t be surprised if Ken “Traffic Ticket King” tries to end all laws about speeding.

One and done indeed, these fools are worse than the Tulloch gang, led by York this time.

@Mike - to my knowledge, there is no law or restriction keeping a citizen from picking up litter on public property.  These signs constitute litter, since they are illegal.  Therefore, ALL of us can chip in and pick them up.  I had thought about returning them to the owner(s), after I “modified” them so they would no longer be usuable for them.  But instead, the metal wire framing has been re-purposed, and thus kept out of the landfill.  Unfortunately, the actual signs are made of vinyl or some petroleum-based product, and I have not found a use for these - yet.

Look no further than the campaign contributors list to see who paid for this decision. the biggest offender being the Honorable Chairman.
No different than politics on a state or federal level. 50.000+ signs collected by honorable hard working volunteers so let’s kill the program and allow the visual blight to continue unabated. The only recompense is vote these buffoons out. One and done.

Situation: Along your typical road, outside the lanes (and in median if there is one) you have land that is public (VDOT mostly) right-of-way (ROW). Then immediately adjacent that ROW, you have private land. In some instances, you might have “public” land like a park, school, etc. that is owned by a government or school district. But whatever it is, where is a sign likely to be removed from first - the McDonalds land, or the road ROW? Obviously, that McD’s manager is going to come out and pluck that sign off the restaurant property. But it might be days to weeks before a VDOT crew comes around and plucks a sign from the ROW.

So where does a politician, home builder, or internet dating site choose to plant their signs? The place where they’ll be left alone longer. The ROW.

Complacency breeds violation.

This is terrible!  Where will all these 80 volunteers now find meaning in their lives?  The government must now fund a program to help these poor citizens find new meaning.

Larry, we haven’t had a Republican Sheriff since 20007 (before the election of Mr. Chapman).  Sheriff Simpson ran in 07 and was elected as an Independent.  Where are these massive signs that have been on the highway for five years now?  Honestly, I’m curious.

It needs to be pointed out that Ken “I Lie” Reid is one of the biggest violators of the law when it comes to political sign placement.  Ken “I break all the rules” Reid regularly puts his political signs on school propertyand public right-of-ways.  So, no question Ken “I Lie” Reid wants this program to go away.  Probably the next thing we will see Ken “Traffic Ticket King” Reid do is try to do away with all traffic laws in Virginia, so that he can drive like a crazy man.

Signage permits for political signs are $10.00. Wave the permit fee and charge $1.00 per sign to the canidates campaign. Helps with the clean up costs and maybe some money left over for other projects!

Can’t people just keep removing illegal signs without the county’s backing?

I think we need to amend the law to place liability on the person or business who places the signs on the public right of way. If a volunteer gets injured removing said signs, it is the person who placed the sign who is responsible to pay for all damages. I realize the difficulty with said rule as politicians are one of the biggest offenders of the public right of ways.

Once again ethics in government takes a back seat when the Republicans are in charge.  Sorry to see the Chairman and the freshman Supervisor for Dulles politicizing this wonderful program.  But we get why.  They repeatedly set up illegal signs and yelled when they were taken down.  Heck, we still have massive illegal signs on highways set up by the former Republican Sheriff.

Come one, does anyone really believe any county employee will take the time to clean up these signs when it is so painfully obvious that doing so will piss of their bosses on the board of supervisors?

I hope the volunteers keep on doing what they’ve been doing.  Let’s prove these people to be the lackeys they are who don;t care about us citizens.  We need to do the right thing and keep our roads clear of this trash.  What are they going to do, throw us in jail?

As for the Town O’ Leesburg’s sign ordinances:

15.4.12 Temporary Political Signs
Temporary political campaign signs on private property not to exceed thirty-two (32) square
feet in area or six (6) feet in height. Such signs shall not be erected more than sixty (60)
days prior to the election and shall be removed within five (5) days after the election. If, after
reasonable notice, such signs are not removed, the town may remove them and the
candidate, organization or person who caused the sign to be erected may be charged for
the removal.  Temporary political signs may not be placed upon utility poles or within the
public right-of-way.

15.4.14 b. Temporary Open House Signs shall comply with the following:   
1. Signs may be displayed only forty eight (48) hours prior to an open house until twenty
four (24) hours after an open house event.
2. Signs may not be located within the public right of way.

There’s a lot more, but those two are the biggest offenders by far.

Oh wow…the BOS needs to take a break now…this was tough work on their part:  get rid of volunteers that actually help keep this county looking decent.  Yep, that was really important and so glad they tackled that first..I know I will sleep better at night.  Okay jokers (yes you BOS) get busy with the important stuff and stop making it so obvious that you are working for everyone but the folks who “voted” you in.  Only ignorant organizations turn away volunteers who have proved themselves to doing a good job—-are there some a little more aggressive than others, sure there are, but you deal with them..you don’t get rid of them all.  Again, you fail to impress.

Can’t remove the signs of real estate developers - they paid for our campaign.

@Happy - while I totally agree with you on the HOA’s gone wild epidemic, I can’t believe you think these signs are a good thing.  And sorry, any signage, including housing signs are illegal, if they are in the right of ways of public roads in Virginia. Here’s the code:

Section 33.1-373 of the Highway Laws of
Virginia states, in part, that: 
“Any person who … puts, places or affixes
any advertisement upon or to any [item or
place] within the limits of any highway shall
be assessed a civil penalty of $100. Each
occurrence shall be subject to a separate
penalty. Advertisements placed within the
limits of the highway are hereby declared a
public and private nuisance and may be
forthwith removed, obliterated, or abated by
the Commonwealth Transportation
Commissioner or his representatives without
notice.”

Since the County had legally authorized volunteers to remove these, they were justified in doing so.

This is Scott York’s way of stopping Democrats from taking down all of his illegal signs.  The fact is that the county employees are the ones removing most of the signs so his completely political motives for pushing this forward will end up making him look like the political hack that he is.  Let’s change parties by whichever way the political winds blow.  I don’t care about you, I only care about winning my next election so my adult children and grand children can remain on the County’s health plan under Obamacare.

Bye bye to the sign vigilantes.  I think these people took themselves a little too seriously.  I have seen videotape of one of them in the flower bed of an office building, well out of the right of way removing a sign they did not like.  These people also routinely remove temporary open house signs which are not illegal.  They remind me of the HOA police many of us have to deal with in our neighborhoods.  People who want to control others.

Could this be accurate?  We have a group of VOLUNTEERS willing to go out and remove those ugly, illegal signs that are such a blight on the Loudoun landscape and a BOS voting them out of existence?  Is this how we are going to save tax dollars to enhance the quality of life in Loudoun?  So who will be removing those signs now?  I look forward to calling my supervisor to ask!

I can’t wait to see the 50 identical signs placed inches apart, informing me of the newest, high-density neighborhood sure to pop up in the coming months.  Thanks BOS !  What’s next on the agenda ?

I agree that this issue was not important. I want to hear more about the Govt reform commission. Sad to predict…no real changes. Each Dept. Director will protect their own turf and nothing will change. The Directors will pander to the BOS to make themselves super important and self-serving. I think the Commission will not be able to see the forest for the trees. Nothing will change, and poor management will stay in place, as they wont be able to spot poor management that WASTES county tax-dollars. I hope the commission can look past the dog and pony shows and make innovative positive changes. Good luck to you(commission members and bos)...you need it.

Wow, these guys are really tackling the important issues.  And the waste!  What savings we will see from them ending this program!

The folks in zoning and planning won’t even direct the removal of illegal signs from a right-of-way.  The former zoning administrator cost the county a fortune fighting over whether or not an architectural neon feature was a “sign”.  The county attorney backed her ridiculous position as the taxpayer wrote a check to the builder for lost rent as they tied the project up in court. How much was the check for, $1,000,000 plus?

If this new batch of supervisors uses this level of intelligence on every issue they tackle, we’re in for a very rough ride (unless they happen to be on our payroll).  50,000+ signs removed for $384?  The BOS can prove that this wasn’t just a gift to their friends and paymasters—publish the rules in a clear “how to know what’s illegal” way on a prominent portion of the county website…and get a couple hours of a county attorney’s time to make sure proper disclaimers are included so we won’t risk losing $384 again.

This is one more very sad illustration of why this particular batch of supervisors wanted to get elected.  It had nothing to do with improving the quality of life of any county citizen.

Will some of those trained set up a group so those of us who still value quality of life over selling out to business interests can keep this important work going.  Years ago it was Don’t Fairfax Loudoun”...we lost a lot of that fight but let’s not let craptastic sign pollution ruin what’s left of our county’s beauty.

This was purely done to let these Republican politicians put up as many signs as they want illegally, with no repercussions.  Along with their big donors the builders and developers.  More litter on our roads,  Great news.

Uh oh, I don’t like where these comments are heading.

Vulgarity, curse, cuss, sexual innuendo, vulagarity. 

Please remove and ban all comments now!

LCRC Operative - You think comments here will make some difference? The people are going to feel what they are going to feel no matter what happens to a handful of comments here. Delgaudio make himself look like a tool not the people who talk about his foolish statements.

Will the supervisors themselves now pick up illegally posted signs?

Thanks for making this a pretty innocuous sounding story, as usual when it comes to stories that make Republicans look bad.

Fellow operatives, keep an eye on this comment thread, if it starts to get out of hand and we start to be made to look bad, just start making a bunch of vulgar comments and our friends here will just delete all the comments.  Just like they did for that story where these pesky commenters started to make our friend Eugene Delgaudio look bad.  Poof, away went those comments, each and every one of them!

What we really need is a program to round out the illegals running around the county.

80+ volunteers.  50,000+ ILLEGAL signs removed.  For FREE.  So what does this so-called conservative 9-0 Republican BOS do at their second meeting?  Kill the program and decide to pay staff for the effort (on our tax dollar). 

What a bunch of crooks.

This is one of the first things this all-Republican board sees fit to address ?  Guess they wanted to nip that in the bud, so we’ll be sure and see all the Romney signs we can stand, come election time.  Too funny, and too obvious !