August 15, 2002

Hew Hamilton
11 Green Hills Dr
Covington, La 70435

Dear Mr. Hamilton:

Thank you for your letter regarding the placement of signs in the St Tammany Parish rights-of-way.

I share your deep concern about these signs and I agree that they are both unsightly and a detriment to the quality of life enjoyed by the citizens of this Parish. Chapter 15 of the Parish Code of Ordinances details the Parish's laws that we utilize to regulate and eliminate litter. Currently, Chapter 15 does not mention the placement of signs in the Parish rights-of-way so we have been implementing an ad hoc process to remove said signs. But we need to do more.

In light of this need my administration is going to introduce an ordinance at the September 5, 2002 Parish Council meeting. The proposed ordinance will prohibit the placement of signs (advertising, real estate, political, etc.) within the parish owned and maintained rights-of-way. The proposed ordinance will consider these illegally placed signs as having "no apparent value" and as such they will be summarily removed and disposed of in the most cost effective manner. Larger signs of "apparent value" will be tagged as "ILLEGAL" and the owner will have five (5) days to in which to remove the sign, if said sign is not removed after that time it will be removed and disposed of.

Since the ordinance has not been formally submitted to the Parish Council at this time I cannot provide you with a copy, but I promise to do so once it is placed on the September 5, 2002 agenda and published as per the St. Tammany Parish Home Rule Charter.

I hope to enlist your support in the effort to pass this important ordinance.

Please contact Greg Gordon, Department of Environmental Services, at 898-2535 should you have any questions pertaining to this ordinance.

Sincerely,

Kevin Davis

St. Tammany Parish President