Cape Carteret commissioners to discuss political campaign sign rules Monday night | CPT PPP Coverage

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CAPE CARTERET  —  With the Nov. 7 municipal elections approaching and filing for town commission and county races underway as of Friday, July 7, Cape Carteret commissioners Monday night will hear a presentation from Carteret County Elections Director Caitlin Sabadish and will discuss amending the town’s Unified Development Ordinance section on placement and size of political campaign signs to match the requirements of the state.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the town hall and online via GoToMeeting. To join online, go to: and use ID: 331-708-837.

Four seats are up for election on Tuesday Nov. 7 in Cape Carteret. They are those of Mayor Will Baker and commissioners Cameron Watts, Don Miller and Jeff Waters.

In a memo to the board for the Monday night meeting, Town Manager Frank Rush said there are some differences between the town’s political campaign sign regulations and the state’s. To simplify things for candidates and town officials, he’s proposing that the town commission basically replace its UDO section with the state law.

Key provisions include:

– Signs would be permitted on all private property and within the right of way of N.C. 24, N.C. 58, Taylor Notion Road and all town-maintained streets. Approval from the property owner or the immediately adjacent property owner for signs in the right-of-way would be required. Signs could not be placed on utility poles.

– There would be no limit to the number of signs on one property, provided the signs don’t obscure other signs.

– The maximum size of signs in residential districts would increase from 3 square feet to 6 square feet.

– Signs on both private property and in the right-of-way would be limited to 42 inches high.

– The maximum size of signs in commercial districts would decrease from a total of 32 square feet combined for up to four signs to 6 square feet for each sign.

– Signs could be placed as early as 30 days prior to the start of one-stop early voting. For 2023, one-stop early voting begins on Oct. 19, which means that campaign signs could be placed beginning on Sept.19. Under the town’s current regulations, signs could be placed as early as Sept. 8, 60 days prior to Election Day.

– Signs could remain for up to 10 days after Election Day, as opposed to two days in the town’s current ordinance.

– Town staff would remove any non-compliant signs and store them at town hall. Candidates would be welcome to retrieve the signs and re-deploy them in compliance with the town’s regulations, and the town would not charge a “retrieval fee.”

Rush is not proposing the board adopt the changes Monday night because proposed UDO changes require review by the planning board first.

If the board likes the changes, Rush will schedule the proposed amendments for review by the planning board at its Aug. 15 meeting, schedule the formal public hearing for the commissioners’ Sept. 11 meeting and the board could adopt the changes then. The changes would then be in effect for the Nov. 7 election campaign.

Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email [email protected]; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.