Yesterday, the Suffolk County legislature voted unanimously to approve an inter-municipal agreement between Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven providing the town the ability to remove unauthorized signs and placards on County roads and right-of ways.
“This partnership with the Town of Brookhaven will assist in cleaning up roadways of unwanted signs and advertisements in the Town of Brookhaven thereby improving the quality of life of all Brookhaven residents,” said County Executive Steve Bellone. I thank Supervisor Romaine and the Brookhaven Town Board for amending their town code to help beautify their roadways.”
Brookhaven recently strengthened its own town codes regulating signs, advertisements posted on utility poles and political posters that remain along town roads well after the election cycle. Brookhaven town workers removed more than 10,000 illegal signs last year.
"In an effort to clean up our Town, I have proposed strengthening of our existing code to ban all signs on our public right-of-ways and on utility poles,” stated Supervisor Romaine. “No signs, whether commercial, personal or political, will be allowed on our public right-of-ways starting this spring. I will be writing to all political leaders to reinforce that message. We will also seek to hire one or two part-time employees to remove all such signs from our roadways."
“Visual pollution is a quality of life issue that is now being addressed in Brookhaven thanks to an agreement with the town and county,” stated Legislator Al Krupski. These signs are like an invasive species that requires the leadership of Brookhaven and Suffolk County to change the culture and not tolerate this type of litter which can also be a safety concern.”
“Every election season our public right of ways are filled with hundreds of political signs that quickly become an environmental hazard,” said Legislator Lindsay III. “This year, I sponsored a successful sign pick up drive with local girl scout troops to help clean up our community, however this resolution goes even further to ensure that our drainage pipes are free from signage debris and our roadways are clean all year round.”
“The proliferation of unauthorized roadside signage has increased dramatically over the years littering our roadways,” said Legislator Rob Calarco. “This agreement with Brookhaven creates a mechanism to not only reduce and eliminate the clutter, and puts some teeth into the enforcement to ensure the signs to not reappear.”