Council Revisits Signage Issue

At the close of the last Marco Island City Council meeting, Chairman Erik Brechnitz raised the much-debated subject of signage.

The signage issue was originally raised late in 2016 by then-Council Chairman Jared Grifoni, shortly after his election in November of that year. Grifoni, an attorney, had read a law journal article about a Supreme Court decision regarding sign restrictions by municipalities. That ruling held that any regulation of signage must be “content neutral,” and applies to all types of signage. Any restrictions must only concern the time, place and manner of the signage, and not the content.

Attorney Kathryn Mehaffey of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, the city’s legal counsel, led councilors through a detailed explanation of a draft ordinance created for council’s review, input and discussion. In addition to a sign’s form and type, a governing body may define size, height, setback, illumination, separation, location and display method.

During the debate on this issue, one of the longest exchanges related to the placement of signage in the right of way, which is the present custom in the community. Attorney Mehaffey recommended that the city not allow any signs to be placed in the right of way. Her rationale is based upon the standard of “all or none,” which means that if the city allows one sign in the right of way, it must allow all signs to be placed there. Mehaffey warned both the city’s planning board and council that “this is going to be a very difficult area to address.”

Brechnitz commented that both the planning board and council chose to ignore Mehaffey’s suggestion to eliminate signs in the right of way, and over time, the issue has increased. “We just don’t have the staff to chase this stuff,” said Chairman Brechnitz.

Councilor Becky Irwin stated that Marco’s realtors would oppose such a move. “They are very sensitive to that issue,” said Irwin.

However, Chairman Brechnitz did not share her opinion, stating that, “The City of Naples doesn’t allow it [signage in the right of way] and their real estate sales don’t seem to suffer.”

Councilor Grifoni expressed opposition to the signage restrictions, as he had years ago during council’s original debate on the issue.

Seeing no support for the suggestion, Chairman Brechnitz rescinded his proposal.