An overhaul of the Township election signs bylaws has eliminated a little-known regulation that banned posting more than one election sign per private property.
The changes will also allow election signs to go up 10 metres (about 30 feet) closer to intersections.
Council approved the revised election and political signs bylaws by a 7-2 vote at its Jan. 11 meeting.
The changes had been discussed at the council priorities committee meeting on Nov. 30.
At that meeting, Coun. Bob Long suggested allowing campaign signs closer to intersections by reducing the minimum distance from 30 to 20 metres, but only if a staff review showed there would be no safety issues.
Long told The Times he thought the existing 30-metre minimum distance, about 100 feet, was “excessive.”
Following a staff review, the new limit was included in the proposed changes.
The new rules will also require all federal, provincial, municipal and school district campaign signs to stay at least two metres back from the curb or nearest driving lane if there is no curb, one metre away from any Township sidewalk or pathway and five metres away from fire hydrants.
The new bylaw also does away with an almost-forgotten regulation that banned private property owners from putting up more than one election sign.
Long said the “obscure” rule would have had the effect of forbidding a homeowner from identifying their separate choices for mayor and councillors in a municipal vote.
It’s not know when, or if, that rule was ever enforced.