I've been pulling outlaw signs down for a couple of years now, but just came across CAUSS. Glad to see that there are a few others interested in stopping the blight.

1) My neighborhood does a pretty good job of keeping the signs under control. It's against the rules to have the signs, and the association picks some signs up, but I suspect that it's individuals like me that get most of 'em. Here is my first beef. The owners association places signs for any event they sponsor. Other 'approved clubs' place signs with the approval of the HOA. The only good thing is that these signs to get picked up after the event, but it's discouraging to pick up a bunch of 'bandit signs' only to see 'approved' signs at every intersection in the neighborhood. Here's my question - do HOA's have any special rights in this regard? What about the median strips and edge of the road where the HOA maintains it? Does the HOA get to 'make the rules' for these area? The clubs don't listen because 'they have the HOA's permission'.

2)I contacted the Harris and Ft. Bend County Commissioners offices awhile back and one said ... "State law does allow homebuilders to put out signs regarding their homes or subdivisions on weekends, but the signs have to be removed before Monday morning." I asked the other county commissioners office about this and they said this exemption doesn't exist. Which is it? Has anyone else seen this? I know there are a lot of homebuilders signs that get put up each weekend. KB Builders is among the worst. On Westgreen south of Highland Knolls there are dozens each weekend. The county has picked them up at least once on my request and I've gotten them several times, but there isn't any slow down. If they are willing to blatantly disobey these laws, I wonder how good they are at cutting corners around the building codes.

cheers,

'Just keep pullin' 'em up'

To my knowledge HOA's do not have any special waiver from the local or state laws when in regards to the public ROW.

However, the question if they can place signs on HOA "common property" or property of other homeowners is another matter.

I have the same issue with my HOA in Katy. They have been putting up signs for the easter egg hunts, special HOA elections, etc.

My position with them is the same position I have with the other spammers, there are other ways to advertise. With my association it is particularly aggravating because they put out a monthly newsletter to HOA members. That should be sufficient to advertise special events.

At this point I intend to review my real estate deed documents containing the HOA regulations and review it line by line. I hope (and expect) there are restrictions on homeowners regarding placement of any signs. Unless there are specific waivers in the same regulations for the HOA then you can count on me pushing the issue with the HOA.

Stay Tuned....this may get good......

>
>2)I contacted the Harris and Ft. Bend County Commissioners
>offices awhile back and one said ... "State law does allow
>homebuilders to put out signs regarding their homes or
>subdivisions on weekends, but the signs have to be removed
>before Monday morning." I asked the other county
>commissioners office about this and they said this exemption
>doesn't exist. Which is it? Has anyone else seen this?

I have never seen any reference in Texas state law suggesting "homebuilder signs on weekends are OK."

Newbie (not)

Newbie (not)

Comparing apples to apples.
Yes, some cities do have ordinaces that permit the home builders to place signs in their specific locale from noon Friday to noon Monday.

But this only applies to a a specific municipality and doesn't cover all rights of way or state ROW's.

I can't see where a county can give such permission, because is contradicts TxDot Trans codes 392 and 393 regarding signs in the ROW's. In addition counties are not considered municipalities in TX.

There was a Homeowner association in No. Texas that got into a squabble with their local CE because they placed a bunch of yellow ribbons in a median ROW in their area.
The CE folks basically told them that they (CE) couldn't play favorites even if CE agreed in principle. The law was the law and it applied to everyone alike.

GW

Welcome. Those of us in West Harris County can use all the help we can get.

Last December The Houston Business Journal ran an article about bandit signs by home builders. Will Holder from Trendmaker Homes made the following statement: "Holder says builders and local law officials have had a "gentleman's agreement" for at least 25 years that allows builders to erect signs on Friday as long as they are taken down by Sunday."

You can read the entire article by seaching Houston Business Journal for "bandit signs". Use homer8087@yahoo.com as sign in and causs as the password to read the article. The builders are beginning to see the problem according to the article.

Go back and review some of the postings by the CypressShark, Xtrasmart and the Whoppers to see what we have been up to in West Harris county.

Again welcome to the CAUSS forum where we have all found out that we are not alone in your quest for the removal of this trash.

CypressShark

Great article. It seems like the folks in the 1960 area are pretty well organized. I don't get up there that often, I wonder if their problem is much worse than what we face here. I spoke with the Harris County District 3 County Commissioner's office some time back and they said that the Mason Road area gets the most complaints of any area in the district.

Have any organizations such as the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce taken a position on this? It would sure be nice to have some general support from an area business group.

I'll keep picking 'em up.

cheers.

'Just keep pullin' 'em up'

The folks in the 1960 area are extremely well organized and have been for some five or more years.

I personally drove down there from the DFW area in 2000 to particiapte in a "Strip the Strip" Rally that was sponsored by the Northwest Harris County Chamber of Commerce.

There were some thirty + teams of three to a team and each team had a deputy sheriff or deputy constable as an escort to stop any confrontations that might arise.

The local county precinct commissioner provided four dump trucks to collect the signs during the all Saturday morning rally. Each team picked up at least 125 signs per team. The sigs were then off loaded to the waiting dump trucks for proper disposal.

It's my understanding that four or five "hard nosed" merchants were given citations from the deputies for having their signs posted in the ROW's. I think the citations were given for "unlawful interference with a duly authorized enforcement officer".

Send me a PM if you need contact information on the 1960 area organizers.

GW