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Do you mow the lawn and find broken sign stakes? Do you come home and it looks like your house is for sale?
Do people pull into your driveway all weekend long thinking you are having the garage sale? Are your bushes
broken and your flowers trampled from people stomping around putting up their signs? Are people putting these
signs in your yard without your permission? You don't have to put up with it.
The City of Tigard Sign Ordinance was established to protect the safety of the public and their property, to
eliminate clutter, and to promote the neat orderly appearance of the community. With numerous educational
programs, routine sign sweeps, verbal and written warnings, and court citations, the number of illegal signs
has dropped dramatically in the last two years. Still, illegal signs do sprout up, and often in areas that
homeowners are responsible for but have not given permission for signs to be placed.
When a sign is actually in your yard without your permission, you may choose to call the company advertised
on the sign and tell them to promptly remove it, or you may choose to take the sign down. Once the sign is
down, it can be dropped off, free of charge, Monday through Friday, at our public works yard at 12800 SW Ash
Street near the intersection of Burnham and Ash.
But what about those signs that are almost on your property. Perhaps in the landscape of the planter strip,
or at the edge of your sod in the bark dust? Or on the utility pole or street sign in your neighborhood?
The same options are available for those signs too.
The Tigard Municipal Codes states "maintenance of sidewalks, curbs, and planter strips is the continuing
obligation of the adjacent property owner" and "The owner shall keep a public street and / or sidewalk
abutting their property free from...objects that may obstruct or render the street or sidewalk unsafe for
its intended use." Translated, this just means that the areas of the right-of-way that are next to your
property are your responsibility to maintain. Since it is your property to maintain, you do not have to
put up with the illegal signs placed there.
The right-of-way includes but is not limited to streets and sidewalks, medians, drainage ditches, planter
strips, private and public access ways, roadsides, and the areas in front of utility poles. Aside from
certain governmental signs like road signs, no sign is allowed in the public right-of-way. There is no
permit, weekend safe zone, special group or certain type of sign that is exempt from this rule. All of
us have right-of-way adjacent to some place in our yard, so all of us have areas that we can keep sign free.
If you are one of the "sign placers" who just didn't realize that outdoor marketing displays including signs
are regulated by the City, rest assured, there are options for you. In residential zones, you may use a lawn
sign (small sign on a stick), in your own yard, and in the yard of any residential property owner who gives
you permission. In commercial and industrial zones, a permit for a temporary A-board or banner sign may be
obtained for only $15.00, and it lasts 30 days. Regardless of the zone or permit requirements, please remember,
no sign is allowed in the public right-of-way.
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