Signs, legally placed or not?

Which signs are legally placed on the northeast corner of Hillside and Walkup in Crystal Lake? Look carefully now. (To enlarge the image, click on it. Then click on the Back button on your browser to come back here.)

If you place signs on a person's property, you are supposed to have that person's permission. In the photo to the right, only one candidate has permission from the property owner on the northeast corner of Hillside and Walkup to place signs on the property. Only the signs of Zane Seipler are placed there with the property owner's permission.

What does that mean about the other signs? (Nygren, Tynis, Steagall)

When I was discussing the legality of campaign sign placement recently, I recalled an explanation given to me by a municipal official in a different town. The answer had to do with where the easement for the right-of-way began and the owner's property ended. We didn't really come to an agreement on that, because in a town a property owner is expected to mow the grass between the sidewalk and the curb, which would actually be within the right-of-way.

So, if there is a good real estate attorney who would like to weigh in here, tell us whether a campaign must have permission from a property owner to place signs between a fence and a curb? If that is right-of-way, does the owner still "own" the property (but has granted an easement for the roadway right-of-way) or does a city, the county or the State own the property in the right-of-way?

Either way, there are ordinances that prohibit signs in the right-of-way. However, IDOT, the County and Townships aren't likely to expend the manpower to remove political signs from the right-of-way, when they don't interfere with sight, snow removal or road maintenance (as these signs don't). Which means that all campaigns can get away with placing political signs in the right-of-way, as long as they don't interfere with the use of the right-of-way.