The National Roads Authority and Planning Department are warning that they may remove the signs of any political candidates who breach rules over the size and placement of election billboards.
A number of political candidates have already erected billboards across Grand Cayman, while several blank billboards, awaiting the addition of a candidate’s face and name, are also in place.
Some of those signs appear to contravene the new guidelines regarding the placement of billboards on road medians and roadsides, as well as on roundabouts.
Marion Pandohie, information manager of the National Roads Authority, told the Compass, in response to queries about whether the agency had ordered any politicians to take signs down, “We do intend on contacting the candidates whose signs are within the medians to have them removed.”
While guidelines were issued regarding candidates’ signs last year, those have been expanded to include “international guidance to ensure the safety of motorists and pedestrians during the upcoming election season”, Pandohie said.
The original guidelines stated that signs and billboards could not “obstruct or interfere in any way with the public’s ability to clearly view governmental signs, traffic, visibility or passage within the public right of way, including vehicle travel lanes, sidewalks and bike lanes”, but did not specify sign sizes or distance from the road. The new guidelines are much more specific.
Jewel Hydes, a candidate for West Bay Central, is among those who is likely to be instructed to take down one of her signs, which is in the median along the Esterley Tibbetts Highway.
She told the Compass Monday afternoon that she had been contacted by the National Roads Authority about her signs. She said she was surprised to hear that her billboard contravened the guidelines, as the vendor she had hired to erect the sign had informed her that permission had been obtained to place it there.
“It’s kind of strange that they put out these new rules, but they’ve not saying anything about signs on roundabouts,” she said, suggesting that billboards of other election candidates that are on roundabouts are not being targeted.
However, the new guideline that prohibits the placement of a billboard within 30 feet from the road’s edge at intersections also applies to roundabouts, “which are actually intersections”, Pandohie confirmed to the Compass.
That rule is likely to apply to a giant blank wooden sign, still awaiting a candidate’s or party’s billboard content, at the Yacht Club roundabout on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway in West Bay.
Another sign that appears to run afoul of the new guidelines is an electronic billboard at the intersection of the Esterley Tibbetts and Batabano Road in West Bay, bearing the candidate posters of all the members of The Caymanian Community Party, led by André Ebanks.
Ebanks told the Compass Monday evening that his party had not been contacted directly by the National Roads Authority regarding the sign. “However, moments ago, TCCP saw the new guidelines issued today and will make any necessary adjustments to comply,” he said.
Size and placement rules
Under the revised guidelines announced by the two government entities on Monday, political signs must not exceed 128 square feet in size.
A number of new restrictions regarding the size and placement of political signs beside roads have also been issued.
Under those new rules, no signs taller than 24 inches can be erected within 10 feet of the edge of the road or concrete kerb, or within 30 feet from the road’s edge at bends or intersections.
Signs that are smaller than 24 inches must be no closer than 5 feet from the road’s edge.
No political sign/billboard of any size or height may be placed anywhere within a public road median.
According to a statement issued by the National Roads Authority and the Planning Department, “The NRA notes that placement of signs and billboards that obscure driver sight lines along roadsides and at intersections creates potentially hazardous situations. Additionally, signs placed in medians pose a danger to individuals as they distract motorists whilst driving and increase the potential for severe collisions (especially on roadways with higher speed limits).”
The statement also noted that either entity “may order the removal or relocation of any political sign that may constitute a hazard to the public”.
Until 2017, candidates could not erect billboards before Parliament (then known as the Legislative Assembly) was dissolved, and signs could not be larger than 32 square feet and had to be set back 12 feet from the road. In February that year, the Central Planning Authority dropped those policies and, according to the minutes of the meeting where the matter was discussed, determined that “election signs could be erected at any time and at any size”.
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Maybe have them apply and receive planning approval before erecting any signs or posters?