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Municipality taking aim at signs erected illegally

Published:Friday | September 6, 2019 | 12:09 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
A billboard allegedly erected illegally in Hanover.
A billboard allegedly erected illegally in Hanover.

Western Bureau:

The Hanover Municipal Corporation has embarked on a major campaign to remove signs and billboards erected illegally.

The decision was announced following Tuesday’s Physical Planning and Environment Meeting of the corporation. It followed a lengthy discussion on the arbitrary mounting of signs and billboards, some of which compromise public safety.

Lucea Mayor Councillor Sheridan Samuels expressed concern about a billboard that had been mounted in Point in proximity to a housing development. He said that the billboard posed a danger to motorists as it blocks their view. “I know that when we are giving approval for construction, it has to be a certain distance from the road. This one is actually in the road, and when you are coming around the corner you cannot see any oncoming vehicle, you have to be looking underneath the sign. It is dangerous,” said Samuels.

It was unanimously agreed by councillors that the municipality needed to remove the billboard and other illegally erected signs across the parish.

Noting that the legal erection of signs is one of the corporation’s revenue streams, Samuels said that the municipality should be more vigilant in pulling in fees from all revenue sources. “We cannot sit idly in this place and allow people to come and break the rules and the laws that we have,” said Samuels.