With the East Lansing City Council election only weeks away, city officials might change an ordinance restricting the number of political yard signs.

The existing ordinance allows residents to have signs advertising politicians at a maximum of five per lawn.

In July, the council adopted an ordinance which increased the number of signs per yard from three to five and increased the size limit of signs from six to 24 square feet. They also changed the total surface area of the signs per premise to 72 square feet.

The new proposal would allow more signs, but residents could still have no more than three of the largest-size signs.

City Attorney Dennis McGinty submitted an amendment of the existing ordinance to the city manager's office which would eliminate the restriction of the number of signs, but maintain size restrictions.

City officials claim eliminating the restriction on the number of signs would protect the city's interest in neighborhood appearance, traffic safety, litter and visual clutter, and preserve the First Amendment rights of residents to have the signs.

"The courts had unequivocal decisions striking down date and time limitations before and after an election," McGinty said in response to U.S. Supreme Court rulings on lawn signs in 1995 and 1999. "We really needed to change it for that reason. We were trying to address the issue of the number as well."

Tiffany Villager, the legal research director for the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn., said the Supreme Court has ruled that a city can regulate the size of signs, but it can't regulate the content.

"The courts have said you can regulate the physical characteristics of the signs because of clutter and safety issues," Villager said. "Generally, a political sign could not be regulated on private property, and the Supreme Court has said that a person has the right to speak freely."

Anyone who violates the 72 square feet of display area would be fined about $100 and receive a civil infraction, McGinty said at Tuesday's council meeting, where councilmembers unanimously voted to have the city attorney draft the amendment for further discussion.

"If people choose to put up more than 72 square feet of signs, then they'll get penalized," he said. "We could get them right away, but I would expect a warning to be given first."

Councilmember Bill Sharp, who is up for re-election, said he dislikes yard signs.

"It's visual pollution," he said. "You get these yard signs going up, they get ripped and bent and tipped over and vandalized. I was hoping we wouldn't have to use them."

John Fournier, a political theory and constitutional democracy senior and candidate for City Council, said he was part of the Commission on the Environment which reviewed the ordinance in July to see what would be the visual and environmental impact of having signs in someone's yard.

"Changing the sign ordinance is a good idea," he said. "There are reasonable limitations. Someone can't put 500 signs in their front yard. There shouldn't be restrictions as to when signs can be placed or a minuscule number of signs."

McGinty said the current five sign limit is derivative of the area of the largest sign available, which is 6 feet by 4 feet.

"If you want more signs you'd just have to have smaller ones," he said. "I guess if they were 1 square foot, you could have 72 signs, but I don't really know if they'd do that."

Vic Loomis, an incumbent member of the council, said he hopes the voters are paying attention to the candidates and the issues and not just political signs.

"Yard signs may influence some people," he said. "I don't think they determine the outcome of the election. They're a lot of work, they're a pain in the neck and a lot of people don't like them."

City Council candidate and former planning commissioner Kevin Beard said the amendment would allow people to express their political viewpoints without restricting them.

"I don't believe changing the number here will really have any effect in any significant way," he said. "If you get into a big election year, then your yard could be pretty well populated with yard signs. It's possible to have a dozen signs out there and no duplicates."

Kristi Jourdan can be reached at jourdank@msu.edu.