Alachua County notifies schools that street-facing banners violate County codes
Staff report
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – Alachua County has notified Alachua County Public Schools that banners facing the street violate the County’s sign codes.
A citizen sent the above photo to County Manager Michele Lieberman, complaining that “illegal signage continues to proliferate along major east/west corridors, including 39th Ave, Newberry Road, Archer Road, Williston Road, and others. Illegal signage, which is both a distraction to motorists and an eyesore, continues to proliferate in the county. Left unchecked, it will come to define our community and greatly detract from our quality of life.”
About a month later, Assistant County Manager Missy Daniels sent an update to County Commissioners: “The banners mentioned in his email are sponsorship banners displayed at Ft. Clarke Middle School. After receiving this complaint, Code Officers inspected other schools throughout the county and found that several also have outward-facing banners that are not permitted under the Alachua County Unified Land Development Code (ULDC). Staff is notifying the School District that the banners are in violation of ULDC Sign Code Section 407.28 (Prohibited Signs), which states that banners, pennants, streamers, and other temporary signs may not face public rights-of-way or adjacent properties unless specifically authorized under the temporary sign provisions.”
Daniels wrote that banners are permitted if they face inward toward recreation areas or are positioned so they are not visible from the right-of-way or adjacent properties.
Daniels added, “Code Administration has increased enforcement of signs placed in the right-of-way and throughout the county. Each Code Officer now has a dedicated weekly time block focused solely on sign enforcement, in addition to their routine daily checks while in the field. In October, officers removed just over 100 unauthorized signs from the County right-of-way.”
When did we start worrying about eyesores? There’s a pile of vagrant trash on every corner.
Wow, this citizen is worried about signage at schools, but not the mess that the homeless make/leave throughout the county.
They may be concerned with both.
Probably a disgruntled competitor of one of the sponsor signs…
Just another citizen idiot. I wonder if they’ll protest the Pride displays along Waldo Rd and University Ave with as much enthusiasm?
Maybe they can target the political signage that proliferates the right-of-ways and fill landfills next.
Good. If local codes do not allow private citizens and businesses to post banners and signs in this manner then public schools must abide by the same rules too. We should hold government entities to a higher standard, not exempt them from the rules.
Almost forgot, real estate signs too.
Slice: love ❤️ your remark…
…” We should hold government entities to a higher standard, not exempt them from the rules.”
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander…
The signage has raised thousands of dollars for the school PTAs while also supporting local businesses. Public schools are not well funded and this fundraiser helps significantly to fill the gaps. PTAs use the money to pay for computer learning programs like IXL, technology improvements like iPads and laptops, robotics supplies, printer paper for teachers, mini-grants (that fund books for classrooms, supplemental learning materials, classroom supplies, science projects and so much more), new playground equipment, school beautification, community building events, support of all specials like art, music and PE, water bottle filling stations, and it goes on and on. Not allowing this will cause a major hit and will negatively impact a lot of schools, students and teachers.
Great points, TWIMC!
And no one notices the shame that these monies have to be raised at all?
They are reasonably funded, but incompetently managed by the ACSB.
Watch them start offering sponsor/ad space on the sides of the school buses like NASCAR
I was thinking ambulance chasers myself.
That would cover almost every bus in the county
Hang on now…RTS would sue the school district for infringing on their territory.
While your viewpoint is worthwhile, it would be nice if you would comment as yourself instead of an anonymous identity. You make some good points. Take ownership of them.
Yet the 34th Street wall is allowed.
We have crimes that are serious that go uninvestigated but we have time & resources to cite School for Signs. Now that is what I call priorities
This city has so many more issues to worry about. Schools let business advertise on their fences and get money to sponsor many activities for the students! This is all wrong! The city needs new people, the school board needs new people. God help us!
Nothing better to do? Code enforcement.. do so much they shouldn’t do, like write up schools. They are like a rat fink.
I wish that Santa Fe College and the City of Gainesville put up a sign on the street notifying me and the neighbors that they were closing the street that leads from my stores’ front door (the pawnshop) on NW 3d Ave to NW 5th Ave…
They are making it difficult for customers to get to me and putting me out of business.
my shop has been there 41 years…
Santa fe said they need the street to test cars for their new auto program they are planning for the old Mauldin’s auto glass they are going to knock down and put there…
Santa Fe has enough property to test cars on their own land, they don’t have to close the 2 way street that leaves from my front door on NW 3rd Ave to NW 5th Ave.
They say they didn’t have to notify the neighbors or adjacent property owners of this secret license agreement for $40, 40 years for $1/yr
And closure of the street…it’s a loophole they are using…very nice…using a loophole to avoid notification and public hearing.
Why the secrecy?
Because the street would not have been closed if the public was notified!
The mayor says he does not want to revisit this item…I bet he doesn’t !
what a clandestine deal, no government in the sunshine..
It’s racketeering when you find a loophole to avoid public hearing to avoid government in the sunshine act…
I will see what the ethics commission in Tallahassee has to say about this…
Like Tallahassee creating the Utility Authority and the city doing that BS election to take GRU away from the Utility authority…that’s a circumnavigation of the law…the city is subservient to the state…when you purposefully try to go around the law, that’s racketeering. The Utility authority is not going anywhere.
To quote Slices remarks from above: “We should hold government entities to a higher standard, not exempt them from the rules.”
🎶Signs signs. everywhere a sign-
dat da dat da da da da dah, da dah dah dah—
don’t do this, don’t do that—can’t you read the signs??? 🎶
The city is trying to save the planet by forcing us to use paper straws…
Paper straws suck. We all know it..
Hanrahan ruined GRU by trying to save the planet and stop global warming by going biomass.
How’d that work out? It put us $2billion in debt and DeSantis had to step in and create the Utility Authority.
Plastic cup, plastic lid, paper straw…
and these guys want to run GRU?
Their jurisdiction is under “solid waste”, that means the restaurant dumpster.
The state regulates restaurants and they don’t care if the straw is paper or plastic.
The city has no jurisdiction to tell the restaurant they can’t give out plastic straws.
They aren’t enforcing the plastic straw thing anyway, that stupid idea needs to be removed from the books.
Rick…what is the loophole that the city says they used to get around public notification?
Also, don’t trivialize the fact that City Commissioner Ed Book was employed by Santa Fe College since 2011 until his retirement this year. All of the commissioners have conflicts or interest and pet projects and they flaunt them in our faces. I implore you to use FOIA laws and request publicly an available information related to the particular matter that is affecting your business. For example, simply requesting all emails from the Ward, Book and other commissioners (or applicable city employees) between X date and Y date that contain the keywords “Santa fe”, “NW 3rd avenue”, “closure”, “robotics”, “public notification”, etc. I would also submit a public records request to Santa Fe College for similar documents (maybe the head of their facilities department, planning and design, as well as the head of the downtown campus and the head of the robotics(?) program that wants to use the street). It may take several requests but if you are persistent enough you will eventually find what you need.
Slice: you’re a smart guy slice! 😃
This thing came out of the consent agenda ( the secret agenda) .
It was Chestnut who brought up the motion, and Willits 2nd’ it.
Willits said on 11/6/25 at public meeting , that : “I agree that not enough notification was given to the neighbors by City staff because we didn’t have clear policy established for this specific type of agreement. “
Willits, the 2nder, is agreeing that there is a problem with notification…
So, Santa Fe & the city’s 40 year license deal for 40 years at $1/yr with no public notification and hearings can be deemed : Ab Initio .
The agreement is void Ab initio for failure to notice.
I have a preponderance of evidence.
The street will remain open!
What a bunch of crooks!
Wow, the County owns apartment complexes inundated with disgusting mold, asbestos and lead making tenants sick which is a direct violation of SEVERAL laws and REFUSES to clean them up and all you care about is signage “distracting” from the quality of life for the community. What a joke.
Another bored busybody “Do-Gooder” with not enough to do…smh…
The schools should get around it by renaming themselves after sponsors, like stadiums do. Using the above photo: La Fiesta Junk Removal Middle School.
Ok, but just like it’s a crime for the Alachua County Elections supervisor to register convicted felons to vote. .. please spend time and money elsewhere.
Sign control. An American concept of freedom of speech. Oofah. Nothing wrong with local ordinances, but discretion should dictate reality. We like small business, but maybe not when it offends us with tacky signs.
Who determines ‘tackiness’?
ChiL-Boo …
This is some PETTY PANCAKES right here ☕😒 #FillTheFence has been “a thing” since I’ve been in Gainesville!
As of 2010 as a PTA mom raising four children in the Alachua County Public School district and I’ve never heard of anyone COMPLAINING… especially when traffic in school zones should already be proceeding with caution.
Just nitpicking neighbors as usual.
Some people just live to find anything to complain about. Will they go as far as complaining about the billboards people pay for advertising on the interstate? Will this same person complain when the advertised sponsors of the schools pull back the sponsorships over time and school activities start to fall through? I keep telling my household this same thing “choose the details you want to battle over, as the consequences of your win may not be what you were looking for”.
Lol what a load of garbage for a report. Since when did sponsorship become so censored? I barely pay attention to sponsor signs when behind the wheel because well… I know how to drive correctly!
If we are oh so very worried for road safety or general safety and place this event on such a high throne, why don’t we also deal with anyone at intersections and stop lights that are handing out or asking for money? I feel I’m at greater danger of a wreck because of beggars in the road, not advertisements on a fence.