COLUMN: No sanctuary in Mooresville

Until Mooresville stops banning people from putting a “Just Be Kind” sign next to their mailbox or putting “Slow, Children at Play” signs by the street in front of their house, it cannot claim to be a “First Amendment Sanctuary.” In fact, for the last year or more, the First Amendment has been under assault by the town of Mooresville.

In March of 2020, the town of Mooresville ordered that all political signage be removed from areas that had traditionally held signage of many types. We were told we’d have to “ask permission.” Meanwhile, some signs were targeted for removal while other candidates’ signs were not. We were eventually denied our request to place political signs in these historically acceptable places. It should be noted that while other requests to place signage were approved, political signage was the ONLY request to be denied by the town of Mooresville to date.

Furthermore, signage of many types, including political, “Just Be Kind” and “Children at Play” signs, were taken right out of people’s front yards. They were told they don’t own that little bit of land between the sidewalk and the street, and therefore aren’t allowed to put signs there. Of course, there were disparities there as well.

Some candidate signs were removed, while neighbors a few doors down with different political views were allowed to keep their signs in that strip next to the road. The U.S. Constitution, the Indiana Constitution and state law prohibit any government entity from suppressing freedom of speech. They cannot pick and choose which signs are allowed based on content.

There have been dozens, if not hundreds, of signs placed without asking permission from the town. These signs were not taken down, nor have they had defamatory statements made about them by town council members. Clearly there is only one kind of temporary sign being placed that the town is worried about. Doing an occasional purge of other signs on rare occasions when it’s brought up that the town isn’t treating people equitably doesn’t seem like a sound policy.

We attempted to address these concerns with the council, and we were met with open and outright hostility. We were told we need to “obey the will of the majority.” Ben Franklin described that as “two wolves and a lamb voting on what they are going to have for lunch.” The Bill of Rights was crafted specifically to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.

Based on the support we’ve seen, most people in Mooresville don’t want an overreaching town government acting as an HOA, and telling people what they can and can’t put in their front yard or in front of their business.

There is an amendment to the UDO that would correct the sign issue and address some of the concerns that likely led to this bad law being drafted to begin with. Here’s what it proposes:

Make temporary signage under a certain size exempt.

There is a section of the UDO that names certain types of signage exempt from the sign rules elsewhere in the UDO. Some on the council have argued that it was never meant to apply to yard signs, but it doesn’t say that. So, it clearly defines “Yard Signs” as any temporary sign less than 16 square feet and weighing less than 25 pounds. For example, a double-sided 2.5-foot-by-3-foot sign would be 15 square feet.

Temporary signage over 16 square feet or over 25 pounds would not be exempt and would then need to go through the permitting process. This is recommended to make sure it’s not a safety issue but the fee for such a sign should be as low as possible — $5 tops.

Some signs are left out for far too long and look bad after a while. So, it puts a 90-day time limit on it. Political signage is already restricted to 66 days by state law and most signs are seasonal anyway. Three months should be plenty of time for summer concert signs, Bible camp, little leagues, Christmas light shows, etc.

Because it has been argued that part of your property isn’t really YOUR property, it puts in a provision that defines it as personal property for the purposes of temporary sign placement. Please, go put your “Just Be Kind” signs and your “Slow: Children at Play” signs out by the mailbox again. This concept is also applied to various government properties. If the police station wants to put out a sign on the PD lawn, they should be allowed to do so without asking permission. Ditto for parks, fire, etc.

It also protects our manicured landscaping, too. We should not allow signs of any kind in town-maintained flower beds, flowerpots, mulched areas and things like that. Our street department works hard to maintain those areas, so let’s keep them clear.

Finally, it’s burdensome and overreaching to have anyone be forced to ask permission from the government to place a temporary sign. That’s just asking for discrimination to happen. Much like now, if they tell everyone else “yes” and then tell one person “no,” well, that’s not fair or equal treatment, is it? It resolves that problem by eliminating that requirement entirely.

This amendment has been on the table for months, but some refuse to consider it or even read it. This is a good compromise that addresses everyone’s concerns, but so far has been unable to get any traction. Legal action is a last resort and not something we should have to do to ensure First Amendment rights in Mooresville. Thus far, the town council seems extremely reluctant to give up the power to ban speech they dislike — which is a good reason why they shouldn’t have it.

You can help by going to LPIN.org/mooresville-sign-ordinance/ and sending an email to the members of the town council, board of zoning appeals and planning commission to express your support for this amendment to fix the sign ordinance.

~ By Danny Lundy | Guest Column | Published May 11, 2021 in The Mooresville Times

** You can read the proposed amendment here