Officials want a little more information about signs that are placed on city property.
The city allows non-profit and other community groups to place signs at various spots in Derby, including an area in front of the former Tailgators on Route 34, an area near BJ’s on Division Street and an area next to the Derby-Shelton bridge.
The spots are public property.
The groups receive permission from an Aldermen subcommittee and the Aldermen as a whole before putting the signs up.
More groups — such as the rejuvenated St. Mary-St. Michael School and Griffin Hospital, one of the city’s top employers — are sponsoring more events.
So, aldermen David Lenart and Ken Hughes said officials would like to know the dimensions of signs being put up — so that city fathers don’t wake up one morning to the realization that someone just put a 20-foot billboard up on the Derby-Shelton bridge.
“We haven’t had anyone burn us yet. It’s just something we want to keep an eye on,” Lenart said.
The city doesn’t want to mandate the size of the signs — they just want to know the size people are putting up.
The issue was discussed at a recent Aldermen subcommittee meeting.
Hughes said Derby government enacted rules about signs two years ago, after signs advertising everything from karate classes to computer classes started popping up on the Derby Greenway.
The Department of Public Works regularly takes down signs that are placed on utility poles throughout Derby.
Lenart said the DPW’s vigilance is causing groups to go through the proper channels.
“They do a great job. People spend money on those signs. They know if they don’t get permission, the city throws the signs away,” Lenart said.
