"Help Keep Hanover Clean"

May 18, 2006

The Following Are All Examples Of Illegal Signs

Remember to keep your County as clean as your home and property.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has a very successful Adopt-A-Highway program and Hanover County has established an “Adopt-A-Spot” program for Park and School cleanups, but litter along roadsides continues to spoil Hanover’s beautiful vistas.

Be sure that your load is secured when you are transporting solid waste. If something blows out of your vehicle, please go back and pick it up. The Sheriff’s Office will ticket individuals that litter or dump illegally. You can report litter law violators by calling (804)365-6110.

Use your ash tray. Piles of cigarette butts are accumulating at stoplights of major intersections and elsewhere. The equipment needed to pick these up is expensive and places an unnecessary demand on government resources.

Remember that banners of any kind require a temporary sign permit. A temporary sign permit, good for up to 60 days within a calendar year, can be obtained from the Planning Office (804-365-6171). The cost is $50 plus 50 cents per square foot of the sign area. The 60 days can be broken up into four separate time periods during the calendar year.

Hanover County Code Compliance Officers do a ‘sweep’ each month and cite illegal signs or banners. Continuing to place illegal banners can lead to being charged with a zoning violation, which carries a fine of up to $250 per banner if convicted.

In addition to the Hanover County temporary sign permit, any banner or sign placed along State-maintained highways also must be approved by VDOT. The VDOT permit for such a banner or sign typically costs $40. Call VDOT at (804)752-5511.

As part of a campaign launched in 2005 by the Board of Supervisors joined with local business leaders and citizens, a number of initiatives have been taken to “clean up Hanover.”

Hanover County and VDOT entered into an agreement to remove illegal signs. Any sign placed within the VDOT right-of-way without their permission is illegal. The VDOT right-of-way includes everything between the road and the furthest point of the ditch away from the road, as well as within median strips. It also includes street sign poles and traffic signposts located within these areas. If you have questions about what is within VDOT’s right-of-way, call (804)752-5511.

These prohibitions against illegal signs, including yard sale signs, were announced in June 2005. Hanover County Code Compliance officers and citizens working with the County’s anti-litter initiative have been collecting and removing illegal signs within public rights-of-way. Hanover County will soon begin issuing citations for violations of the law, which could result in fines.

If you have any questions about the legality of a sign located outside the public right-of-way, please call Hanover County Code Enforcement Officers at (804)365-6171.

Hanover County also has begun using adults and juveniles who have been sentenced to community service after being convicted of minor crimes to pick up litter around the convenience centers and also using people who are serving jail time on the weekends to pick up litter alongside roadways.

Private citizens are serving as Hanover’s “litter ambassadors”. These citizens help coordinate efforts and provide additional information about the program. If your organization would like to hear from a “litter ambassador”, please call (804)365-6158.

These are some of the things you can do to help keep Hanover clean:

• Adopt a highway. We need teams of families, businesses, civic or religious groups to adopt two-mile sections of Hanover’s roadways. This is a great opportunity to teach children community participation, conduct team building, and just have a good time while giving back to our county. Contact Donnetta Holms at VDOT at (804)752-5511 for more information or to sign up. Click here to see which roads in Hanover are available to be adopted.
• Secure your loads. Over half of the litter on Hanover’s roadways is blowing out of vehicles on their way to the solid waste convenience centers, or from trucks moving goods to and from construction sites. Secure your load and be responsible: if something blows out of your vehicle, go back and pick it up. It’s the right thing to do and it’s also illegal to let your trash blow all over the roadways.
• Clean up your property. Take a few minutes and pick up trash around your house, neighborhood or business. Hopefully, a clean environment will influence others not to litter.
• Report litter violators. Unfortunately, some folks will continue to throw trash out the window. It’s important that there be a consequence for this uncaring action. Report the license number of litter violators to the Hanover Sheriff’s Office at 365-6140. If you’re willing to testify, they’re willing to assist you in preparing for prosecution.
• Use your ash tray. With thousands of trees having been knocked down by Hurricane Isabel, Hanover is at perhaps the greatest risk of forest fires in its recent history. In addition to increasing the danger of fires, piles of cigarette butts at every stoplight just look horrendous. Let’s keep our cigarettes in our vehicles and keep Hanover green and beautiful.

For more information about related environmental issues see these links:

Information on VDOT's Adopt-A-Highway program can be read at http://www.virginiadot.org/infoservice/prog-aah-default.asp

For more on programs and services offered by the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, see http://www.cvwma.com/

Information on Virginia's Adopt-A-Stream program can be read at http://www.dcr.state.va.us/sw/adopt.htm

"Virginia's gateway to environmental information and resources" can be found at http://www.vanaturally.com

Information about recycling and litter prevention in Virginia can be read at
http://www.deq.state.va.us/recycle/

For more information about anti-litter programs in Hanover County, call the Department of Public Works at (804)365-6158.