As municipal election campaigns get into full swing with candidates finalized for both mayor and council, the Town of Fort Frances has allowed candidates to place their signs in certain publicly owned areas of the community.
While residents may recall that in prior years no signs were allowed on town-owned property, that is no longer the case as of last May, said Fort Frances Town Clerk Chelsea Greig.
“Before, we used to not allow any candidate signs on public property at all,” she said. “That was for all elections, and we used to enforce that.”
After some research and consultations with other comparable communities, a decision was undertaken to ease those restrictions.
“We decided, instead, to allow them on public property but only in certain areas of town, much like we’ve seen in other municipalities,” she said.
The areas included are described in the bylaw amendment as follows:
- Property northeast of the Central Avenue and Second Street East intersection, bounded by street lines and boundary line 10 metres north and parallel to Second Street East and boundary line 35 metres east and parallel to Central Avenue.
- Property northwest of the Central Avenue and Third Street West intersection, bounded by street lines and boundary line 10 meters north and parallel to Third Street West and boundary line 43 metres west and parallel to Central Avenue.
- Property southeast of the King’s Highway and Sunset Drive intersection, bounded by street lines and the Sunset Drive sidewalk extension but no further than 93 metres east of Sunset Drive.
- Properties northwest, southeast and southwest of the Mill Road and CN Rail overpass, bounded by street lines and the CN Rail corridor and boundary lines 10 metres parallel to Mill Road.
Aside from the above locations, for signs to be placed on any other town-owned property, consent by resolution from council would be required.
For signs to be placed on any private property, the candidates must obtain the owner’s permission.
Signs may be any size as long as they don’t obstruct the view of traffic or anything else. Candidates were also not supposed to spend any money on signs or campaign materials ahead of nomination papers being filed.
Any resident with questions about election signs can reach out to the Town of Fort Frances and the Clerk’s office.
