Signs Point to Less Roadside Clutter

"Litter on a stick" -- businesses are on notice that this is what many residents think of the small commercial signs erected along Calvert County's roads.

The Calvert commissioners, disgusted with the proliferation of such signs at the county's town centers, directed the Department of Economic Development to explain the rules governing roadside ads to those who post the signs. The signs advertise new homes for sale, local restaurants, yard sales, and other social and business functions.

County law prohibits the signs, but commissioners agreed in the past to allow them as long as they were are not posted before Friday night and removed by Sunday night, and are spread out, with about a quarter-mile between signs posted for the same business.

Business owners "know they are illegal, but they know they can get away with it," said Commissioner Linda L. Kelley (R-At Large), who referred to the signs as "unsightly" and "litter on a stick."

The county received permission from the State Highway Administration to dispose of the signs after years of being unable to enforce the measures, Kelley said.

There are a handful of businesses that put "30 signs at every intersection . . . spoiling it for everybody," Commissioner Gerald W. Clark (R-Lusby) said.

Commissioner Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large) said that signs advertising blood drives or local church dinners should be exempt. Stinnett also said she does not favor spending county tax funds on removing and disposing of the signs.

County officials estimated it would cost the highway maintenance unit some $52,000 a year to deal with the signs, said Commissioners President Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown). If the county assigned detention center prisoners to remove the signs, the cost would be about half that amount, he said.

The Department of Economic Development was directed to report on any changes in the sign situation by July 15. If there is no change, the commissioners will reconsider a motion by Kelley to use jail inmates to dispose of the signs.

Huntingtown Hearing Set

Calvert commissioners voted Tuesday to hold a public hearing on what to do with an 8.35-acre tract at the center of discussions on reworking the Huntingtown Town Center Master Plan.

The property, owned by Michael Havenner, is bisected by an undeveloped road, Walnut Crossing, that is included in the 1993 master plan. As platted, Walnut Crossing would run parallel to Old Town Road.

Less than an acre of Havenner's property is zoned as a mixed-use district. The remainder can be developed as a residential neighborhood, according to the plan. Havenner has requested that a larger portion of his property be rezoned for mixed use, using the undeveloped road as a boundary.