After complaints from two business owners in Bethesda, county officials have started taping pink flyers to temporary signs placed illegally in downtown sidewalks. The flyers cite a chapter of the Montgomery County Code on sign regulations.
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Ken Hartman, director of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, said his office posted the flyers to get the attention of business owners using the signs.
Many, such as the one pictured above for bar and restaurant Tyber Bierhaus, are strategically placed in sidewalks at major intersections to draw attention to the businesses. The Tyber Bierhaus sign near the entrance to the Bethesda Metro station had one of the pink flyers attached to it Friday.
“County law does not allow these signs beyond a temporary basis,” Hartman said Friday. “A lot of them are out there every single day of the year. We’re not writing tickets. We want to make sure we have a discussion about the what the law says and who knows, we may want to look at modifying the law to be more urban-friendly. A lot of urban centers have these signs that our law, right now, does not permit.”
Hartman said that discussion could happen when the Regional Services Center hosts a question and answer session with officials from the Department of Permitting Services at 9 a.m. on Jan. 26.
Hartman said the complaints from two business owners in the Woodmont Triangle neighborhood came in early December. Veterans Park, near where blogger Robert Dyer found this sign for a Fairmont Avenue print shop, has been a particular trouble spot where signs have sometimes blocked pedestrians.
The Regional Services Center has counted as many as 160 of the temporary signs in the Bethesda Central Business District at one time, Hartman said.
The pink flyers warn that those who violate the county’s sign regulations face a $500 civil citation.
Ehsan Motazedi, chief of zoning and site plan enforcement for the county’s Department of Permitting Services, said inspectors give business owners warnings before issuing citations.
“We don’t want to go just give them a notice of violation,” Motazedi said. “We try to educate them. Sometimes, they really don’t know. They usually comply and remove the sign. If they don’t, we will come to give them a citation.”
Motazedi said citations for temporary signs that violate the county’s code are rare and that the last one was issued at least a year ago.
