We’re getting these questions. Let’s deal with the HOA statement first: They can’t do that.
Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1808 (C) prohibits any HOA from preventing you from putting out a political sign in the last 71 days before an election — we’re well within that time now! (You do have to take it down three days after the election.) Here’s the language from the state statute:
“Notwithstanding any provision in the community documents, an association shall not prohibit the indoor or outdoor display of a political sign by an association member on that member’s property, except that an association may prohibit the display of political signs earlier than seventy-one days before the day of an election and later than three days after an election day. An association may regulate the size and number of political signs that may be placed on a member’s property if the association’s regulation is no more restrictive than any applicable city, town or county ordinance that regulates the size and number of political signs on residential property.”
Because the City of Flagstaff does limit the “size and number” of political signs that can be placed on a residential property, we turn to that code, which we’ve written about before in the context of roadside signs, for further guidance. The Code says that residential properties may have up to 16 feet of portable signage. We wondered how that sixteen-feet limit is measured, so one of our PCs called the City Planning Department. Their answer was that it’s the total dimension of all of the signs.
Most of the signs we have are 2 x 1.5 feet or 3 square feet. (Some may be a bit larger so measure before you put them up.) That means you could put five signs for five different campaigns on your lawn and be within the City of Flagstaff and HOA requirements for associations within the city.
For those living in other parts of the County outside of the City of Flagstaff, the County Sign Ordinance places no limitations of the size of political signs and allows them to be placed on any private properties for sixty days before an election and up to three days after an election. Coconino County Zoning Ordinance, Sec. 16.3.E. For other municipalities within the County, check with the local authorities.
We’ve got signs, come and get them!
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Thanks to PC Nancy Branham for researching the HOA law.
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