As happens every autumn, we’re seeing a proliferation of political signs along roads in West Windsor. A majority of the signs have been placed illegally, especially along Alexander and Washington Roads but on others as well. Here is a condensed part of the town’s code that specifically deals with this subject. It’s from Section 200-152, “Temporary signs,” available on the website at westwindsornj.org.
“A. General sign regulations. (4) Temporary signs shall be located on a lot so that they are not in the public right-of-way and shall not interfere with sight distances at street intersections or ingress or egress points to a lot or cause a public safety hazard. No such signs shall be located on any public property. There shall be no placement of such signs between public roads and sidewalks or within six feet of a public road where no sidewalk exists.”
The widths of rights-of-way in West Windsor are defined in Section 200-56 of the code and vary depending upon the type of road. This allows for sidewalks where they exist and for pedestrian traffic and general maintenance where they do not. Such border areas can be from 10 to as much as 17 feet on either side of the hard surface, depending on the type of road. They are public property, even though adjacent property owners are required to maintain them, including the sidewalks.
As a specific example, my street has a paved surface 30 feet wide. My property’s corner stakes, placed by a surveyor, are 10 feet in from the paved surface and 2 feet in from the sidewalk edge nearest my house. The other side is 10 feet in also. The publicly-owned right-of-way is therefore 50 feet wide as confirmed on my survey, even though this comes 2 feet within what appears to be my own lawn and the one opposite my house, which also has a sidewalk.
To further clarify situations where the width of the right-of-way may not be as clear as it is in my case, the code specifically says that signs cannot be placed between public roads and sidewalks or within six feet of a public road where there is no sidewalk. This covers all roadways no matter what the actual width of the legal right-of-way is.
There is misplaced concern that enforcing this ordinance would infringe people’s freedom of speech. This is absurd. If not otherwise disallowed by specific homeowner’s association rules, people are perfectly free to place signs on their own property as long as they observe the above regulations. They are there for many reasons, public safety being the most obvious.
It is dismaying that residents have to remind the administration of what the law plainly says. Temporary signs in areas prohibited by the code must either be relocated or removed as promptly as possible. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with it.
John A. Church
West Windsor
