A DOT official removed at least two more business directional signs in South Bristol in recent weeks, according to local business owners.
The state agency removed the signs of Island Grocery and the Sunset Bed and Breakfast from the corner of Rt. 129 and West Side Road.
Dick Miller co-owns the Sunset Bed and Breakfast. “It didn’t bother me at all,” Miller said. Around Aug. 9, Miller arrived to find the sign by the back door “with a very nice note” from the DOT official, he said.
Customers can still find the business despite the loss of the sign, he said. “People know that they turn on the first right,” he said, and many visitors own GPS navigation systems.
“I knew fully well what the laws were,” Miller said, when he built and erected the sign. He decided to build the sign anyway because someone stole the West Side Road sign as well as the signs at both ends of Sunset Loop, the quiet, scenic road that runs alongside West Side Road and is home to Miller’s business.
Miller built a new sign and signpost for Sunset Loop, too, but both quickly fell victim to theft.
“It’s hard for people to find where you are” without road signs, Miller said, but he wondered from the beginning how long it would take the state to remove the sign.
The sign stood for “at least four years” before DOT swept in. “When it happened, it didn’t surprise me,” Miller said. “I just look at this with a sense of humor.”
The state law that bans Miller’s homemade sign is the same law that prohibits billboards. According to the law’s “policy and purposes” section, the legislation seeks to “Prohibit and control the indiscriminate use of outdoor advertising” and “Enhance and protect the natural scenic beauty of the state.”
A woman who identified herself as the owner of Island Grocery confirmed that DOT recently removed the store’s sign, but declined to give her name or comment further for this article.
Chip Kelley, DOT Field Inspector for Right of Way Control, confirmed that he recently removed the Island Grocery and Sunset Bed and Breakfast signs during a recent visit to the area. Kelley did not recall the date of his visit or if he removed any other signs.
DOT believes “there are no violations on that stretch” now, Kelley said. Kelley’s most recent visit was “not necessarily” in response to a specific complaint, he said.
“If the office gets a complaint or a call… often other violations are found,” Kelley said.
DOT tries to frequent peninsular, coastal towns this time of year, however, Kelley said, because seasonal businesses, fueled by the tourist trade, often post temporary signs in violation of DOT rules.
Richard Munson co-owns The Unique Yankee Inn on Coveside Road. Munson, unlike Miller, has been outspoken in his resistance to the removal of his sign at the corner of Coveside and East Side Roads. Like Miller’s, Munson’s sign stood for years – since 2004, in this case – before coming to DOT’s attention.
Munson has contacted lawyers, written a letter to the South Bristol Board of Selectmen and attended a selectmen’s meeting to request an ordinance loosening restrictions on directional signs. Next, he said, he plans to contact Rep. Jon McKane (R-Newcastle) to enlist legislative aid for his quest.
Munson has said he believes a neighbor complained to DOT about his sign, leading to the removal of his sign and the sign for Coveside Restaurant & Marina at the same intersection. “She didn’t like our sign, so everybody is paying a price for it now,” he said.
Repeated attempts to reach the alleged complainant have been unsuccessful.
Coveside’s sign returned to the intersection after DOT removal, although restaurant spokesperson Amanda Sprague said she didn’t know who placed the sign back at the corner.
In an Aug. 18 phone interview, Sprague said the restaurant voluntarily removed the sign the second time. Sprague said she didn’t know of any customers unable to find Coveside. “I guess everyone knows where we are now,” she said.
“Clearly not having our sign down there is affecting our business,” Munson said. Although he acknowledges the inn is “running close to 100 percent occupancy,” customers continue to pass the sign-less intersection, get lost and knock on the doors of private residences in their attempts to find the inn, he said.
Randy Hopper sympathizes with Munson. Hopper co-owns Miss Ashley’s Sub Shack, near the corner of McFarland’s Cove Road and Rt. 129. A DOT employee visited Hopper, he said, to ask him about a sign on a telephone pole at the intersection.
Hopper explained to the DOT employee his plans to remove the sign and erect a more permanent sign on his property near the corner, and the DOT employee “didn’t have a problem with it.”
“I’m all clear with the DOT,” Hopper said. The DOT employee did remove a realtor’s sign at the same corner, he said.
Hopper did express his sympathies with Munson and other business owners forbidden to display their signs. “I helped build [The Unique Yankee Inn] seven years ago,” he said. “We have a right to advertise our businesses as long as it’s tastefully done. It’s not fair to us business owners. We’re just trying to make a living. It’s a little ridiculous.”
Munson offered mixed reviews of town officials’ efforts to provide a resolution to the issue. “The village did pull the [Coveside Road] sign out and put it up high enough so the kids can’t break it,” Munson said.
The Coveside Road sign, like the West Side Road and Sunset Loop signs, has been a popular attraction for souvenir hunters and, before its recent relocation, was set several yards back from the road and partially obscured by trees and bushes.
Munson still hopes the town will pass an ordinance to allow the return of his directional sign and others like it. Selectmen initially appeared eager to do so, but after consulting applicable state law, told Munson the state requires any town ordinance to enforce limits at least as stringent as the state’s.
Eric Conrad, Director of Communications for the Maine Municipal Association, confirmed the town’s interpretation. “They cannot weaken or undo state law,” Conrad said.
Directional signs on a business’ property are permissible, Conrad said. “When you get off premises, that’s where the state comes in.”
Miller, the co-owner of Sunset Bed and Breakfast, doesn’t expect and didn’t express any desire for an ordinance. “The town likes to leave people alone as much as they can, I think,” he said.
For the full text of the applicable law, Title 23 § 1901-1925, visit www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/23/title23ch21sec0.html.
