Hundreds of illegal signs were removed from Hillsborough County roadways
Hillsborough County Code Enforcement recently teamed up with the cities of Tampa, Temple Terrace, and Plant City for a countywide effort to remove illegal signs cluttering up roadways. The annual cooperative effort, dubbed Sign Off Day Tampa Bay, targets unauthorized snipe signs and advertising on utility poles, medians, parkways, and other rights of ways.
With the goal of removing as many signs as possible in one day, collectors were able to nearly fill a 60-cubic-yard trash container, which is about the size of six dump trucks. The collected signs were then recycled. The metal portions of the snipe signs go to the County's scrap metal recycling program, and the plastic portion is converted into fuel, meaning virtually every component is recycled.
The signs, which advertise everything from houses for sale to window washing to tree services, tend to pop up on weekends, often near busy intersections or on well-traveled roads. However, Article VII, Section 7 of the Hillsborough County Land Development Code prohibits these signs on public property as they pose hazards to pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and they are eyesores.
You can take part
Code Enforcement officers routinely locate and remove these signs, but they need your help. You can report snipe signs online on Hillsborough County's At Your Service portal. You can also volunteer to remove snipe signs through Code Enforcement's Volunteers in Public Service (VIPS) program - learn more and submit an application. With your help, we can continue to keep Hillsborough County beautiful.