The yearly and very American tradition of yard sales is under
attack. An article in the Potomac Local
mentions a Virginia state law making it illegal to “place signs in the
right-of-way of all public roads. These
include signs placed on traffic signs, staked in the medians, tacked on utility
poles and nailed to fences.” According to the Virginia code if you paint,
print, place, put or affix a sign or advertisement within the limits of any
highway you will be assessed a civil penalty of $100. But that is not all. The Commissioner of Highways may also charge
you the cost of removing or obliterating the “public and private
nuisance”. It does not mention what the
cost will be.
According to the Prince William County municipal code, an
individual requesting a sign permit must place a deposit or guarantee of at
least $50. They must provide “scale drawing of the sign showing all dimensions,
height, copy, colors, type of material, structural and architectural supports
or backgrounds, method and hours of illumination, and a scaled location plan of
the site. In order to advertise your
yard sale with a sign larger than two square feet you must call up the zoning
administrator (hope he answers), send him all of the details of the sign and
then have him perform a site visit to approve of the sign.
The most shocking part of this regulation, it is not even
enforced. Upon a phone conversation with
the sign inspector, I was informed the regulation is only enforced if someone
reports the violation (highly unlikely as most people probably do not even know
about the regulation) and then the sign inspector will be dispatched to inspect
the disturbance call. Upon arrival the yardsign has already been removed and there is nothing for the inspector to do.
This leads me to ask whether this regulation is even necessary. My view is the regulation is absolutely
pointless, but also unjust. The
government is infringing on your property rights by telling you what you can
put on it and even how you can put it up if they do approve of letting you put
it on your property. The government
should step away and allow individuals to do what they want with the property
they own. Because after all if the
government is allowed to tell you what to do with your property is it really
yours?
