County to Boost Efforts to Remove Illegal Signs

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

If you live anywhere in Anderson County, you have witnessed the clutter.

An intersection can be cleared of roadside advertisements and, a few weeks later, look as though no one has touched it. For Matthew Stipe, the director of Anderson County Environmental and Code Enforcement, this is part of the cycle his office must deal with on a daily basis.

Officers remove signs. More appear. A complaint brings them back to the same corner.

Asked whether the task resembled shoveling a blizzard, Stipe conceded the comparison.

Anderson County is making a renewed push against improperly placed commercial signs, but Stipe is careful about what “renewed” means. Enforcement did not stop and suddenly begin again.

In 2021, Anderson County announced an annual “sign blitz” beginning on Earth Day, April 22, with Public Works employees drawn from eight departments. Using the county’s major grid map, crews were assigned to remove illegal signs encroaching on street, road and highway rights of way in unincorporated areas.

The sweep also targeted signs painted on or attached to trees, rocks and other natural features, as well as utility poles, street signs and stoplight poles. The county’s stated concerns went beyond appearances: signs could distract drivers, obstruct visibility and clutter intersections. Officials also described an orderly roadside as part of protecting existing businesses and maintaining the county’s appeal to prospective employers.

Stipe’s department has been working on the problem for a couple of years, he said, since the county adopted those relevant ordinances in 2001. The challenge is fitting a recurring task into officers’ workloads that also includes dealing with overgrown properties, piles of accumulated rubbish, junk vehicles and other complaints.

“We can’t go out there and spend, you know, day after day after day just picking up signs,” he said.

But the department generally responds when someone reports a cluttered intersection or another problem location. Between complaints, officers schedule collections every few weeks or months, as other demands allow.

Now they are trying to interrupt the cycle rather than merely repeat it. Before contacting the businesses responsible, officers photograph the signs and keep a record of them. The advertisement that identifies a business to passing motorists also helps identify whom the county needs to call.

“We photograph them,” Stipe said. “And then we make contact with them to let them know.”

For now, the department’s approach emphasizes education rather than fines. But that could change.

Stipe said officers are removing improperly placed signs and explaining the requirements to their owners. Although a violation could lead to a fine, he said the department is not currently fining people as part of this effort.

“We’re simply right now removing a sign and getting in touch with them to let them know that it’s not supposed to be there (and why),” he said.

Some of those conversations have produced results since small-business owners do not know that their signs require approval.

The place to begin is Anderson County Development Standards, at the county annex, 401 E. River St. Applicants fill out a form, which the department reviews, and pay the applicable fee. Development Standards explains how many signs the approval covers, how long they may remain and the conditions governing their placement.

The application fee is $50 per sign. Other guidelines can be found here.

An approved sign receives a sticker. For an enforcement officer responding to a complaint, it provides a visible indication that the owner has gone through the county’s process.

Permission, however, does not make every location permissible. Stipe identified small signs placed in road rights of way as a recurring problem. Signs attached to streetlight posts or telephone poles are not legal and also removed, he said.

The distinction matters: getting approval for a sign and choosing a lawful place to put it are parts of the same obligation. A business owner cannot settle the question simply by finding an empty patch beside a busy road.

During campaign season, the roadside can become a crowded conversation, with businesses and candidates competing for attention.

Stipe’s department makes a distinction between those messages.

“We don’t remove any political signs,” he said. “We leave that up to the responsible parties once that’s over with and their campaigns are finished.”

For commercial signs, meanwhile, the problem persists. An intersection cleared after a complaint can be cluttered again within weeks or months. The county’s effort to contact business owners is intended to make a cleanup last longer than the time it takes someone to install another advertisement.

Sign enforcement occupies only part of a small department’s territory.

Environmental enforcement and code enforcement now operate under one umbrella, Stipe said. The property-maintenance side has one officer. Environmental enforcement has three, including a newly sworn officer. Their responsibilities extend across the county, which covers more than 740 square miles.

On the property-maintenance side, the work includes tall grass, rubbish and debris, open storage and junk vehicles. Stipe said the county has adopted Chapter 3 of the International Property Maintenance Code, which addresses exterior property maintenance.

Some ordinances, including provisions concerning junk vehicles, are being revised through the county’s land-use ordinance work, he said.

There are additional proposals ahead. Stipe said the county expects to consider ordinances concerning camping at boat landings at county parks. For now those measures are proposals, not rules he described as already enacted.

The camping proposal is intended to direct camping to designated areas and protect county parks, he said. Unauthorized camping can involve visitors who do not understand where camping is allowed, as well as homeless encampments.

“We want people to come out to the county parks and camp,” Stipe said, “but do it in a designated area.”

The department sets a preference for explaining the rules before a violation becomes a recurring enforcement problem. Residents can call the department at 864-260-1062 weekdays for information. The county also distributes information through its website and Facebook.

For a business planning a roadside sign, the first stop is Development Standards, not the roadside. For the officers who return to an intersection they have already cleared, the hope is that a photograph and a phone call will accomplish what another collection sweep alone cannot and keep the next sign from appearing in the wrong place.