First, Telemarketing. Now, Yard Signs?

When Michael Hornung finishes an irrigation installation job, he puts up a temporary yard sign on the property so potential customers know he did the work. Many contractors do the same thing – it’s an inexpensive and convenient way landscape and lawn care professionals can market their services. Typically, the signs are left up for two weeks and then taken down by the company so they can be reused.
 
But Hornung, president of Sartell, Minn.-based Valley Green, was taken by surprise when he received a nasty letter from the city of Sartell, threatening legal action if he didn’t take down his two most recent signs.

The letter came as a result of a temporary yard sign ordinance that was put into place in 2005. The ordinance bans yard signs because it says they clutter yards and detract from the city landscape. However, the ordinance allows real estate and political signs, as well as garage sale and community activity signs, all of which litter the neighborhood much more than temporary business yard signs, in Hornung’s opinion.

To fight the ban, Hornung called city counsel and sent a letter, both of which gave him a spot on the docket during the next planning and zoning meeting. “I just wanted them to revise the ordinance so landscape contractors and other businesses could have a sign out for a couple weeks after jobs are complete – we don’t want to leave our signs out forever,” Hornung explains.

A decision for revising the ordinance was passed by a vote of 5 to 0. The next step was city counsel. Hornung called all five city counsel members to discuss the measure and ended up talking with three of them – two of whom agreed with him. But at the city counsel meeting, he did not get a formal spot on the agenda and a 3 to 2 vote let the ordinance stand as is.

Hornung plans to become more politically active this fall to continue pushing city counsel to revise the ordinance. “We want to keep the city clean too – that’s why we self-regulate and take down our signs every two weeks so we don’t outwear our welcome,” he says. “But it’s not fair for small business owners who want to be smart marketers to have yard signs taken away from them as a marketing vehicle.”

Are you facing similar problems in your neighborhood? Lawn & Landscape wants to know. Visit www.lawnandlandscape.com/messageboard to discuss this issue and talk about how you are dealing with small business-limiting ordinances in your town.