Size doesn’t matter, at least when it comes to election campaign signs in the City of Belleville.
At its meeting Tuesday, city council voted to amend its campaign sign bylaw to remove a restriction limiting a sign’s size to a maximum of 32 square feet.
The sign size issue surfaced in the 2018 local election after now Mayor Mitch Panciuk used large billboard advertising.
City staff believe the bylaw’s size restrictions would not stand up to a “freedom of speech” challenge in the courts.
In 2009 the Supreme Court ruled that political and third-party advertising would be legal on buses which offer space far larger than 32 square feet.
