Political Signs

The Lakeland Board of Commissioners recently amended the Ordinance concerning Political Signs to delete the requirement for a permit and for the $500 deposit effective immediately.

Sign Regulations are noted below. Please contact Lakeland Code Enforcement (867-2717) or e-mail CityHall@lakelandtn.org if you note a sign violation or have quesitons. City personnel are trained to enforce the sign ordinance in a fair and equitable manner. At least for the present time, Code Enforcement will handle political sign enforcement as follows:

-Signs on occupied private property: For minor violations, Code Enforcement personnel will attempt to contact the occupant (signs are allowed only on occupied property with approval of the occupant), advise of the violation and provide an opportunity to correct the violation.

-If a violation appears simply to be a misunderstanding of the rules and regulations, the occupant, campaign manager or candidate will be contacted, if possible, to remedy the violation.

-Signs on medians, intersections, or placed illegally on traffic control signs or public property (street right of ways, parks etc.) or, common open space, unoccupied property etc. will be picked up immediately. Common Open Space owned by the Home Owners Association etc. is not considered occupied property.

Please contact Lakeland Code Enforcement if you have any questions. Basic standards for political signs are noted below.

-Signs are not allowed on public property, which includes right of ways, streets, on signs, medians, parks, public facilities etc.

Signs on public property are immediately removed by Code Enforcement personnel.

Political signs are allowed under the following circumstances:

-One sign per candidate or issue on an occupied lot. (with permission of the owner).

-Placed no closer than 15 feet to the edge of the pavement (or 5 feet behind the sidewalk), whichever is greater.

-Cannot be erected more than 30 days before Early Voting and must be removed within three days after the election.

-Signs cannot exceed 5 square feet in area per side and cannot exceed 48” in height.

For specific information the Lakeland sign ordinances are at www.Lakelandtn.gov, or contact City Hall.

We appreciate the cooperation of all residents in observing these sign regulations.