Yorba Linda has some of the most stringent regulations regarding campaign signs of any north Orange County city, with specific rules for placing signs on public rights-of-way and private property.
According to a set of temporary sign guidelines issued by the city's Community Preservation office, Yorba Linda “recognizes that the expression of free speech is an important and Constitutionally protected right.”
But the guidelines state that temporary signs “present a potential hazard to persons and property,” so the city “must impose reasonable time limits” on the sign displays. “The city's temporary sign regulations enable freedom of expression while preserving public safety.”
Violations of the rules on the placement of temporary signs on public rights-of-way that are determined “to present an immediate pedestrian or vehicular hazard,” allow for the removal of the signs “without notice,” according to the guidelines.
Other violations allow sign removal after a notice to the owner, who then has 72 hours to remove the sign. If the sign is removed by the city, the owner has 72 hours to retrieve the sign from the city before it is discarded. Signs must be removed within five days after an election.
Owners must place their name, address and telephone number on signs prior to installation, and signs can be no larger than six square feet in area and no more than four feet in height.
Two serious violations include placing signs in the center medians of streets and highways and placing signs in tree wells along sidewalks. Signs may be located in landscaped public parkways but not within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, driveway or intersection.
Signs must be freestanding and not affixed to traffic control devices, government signs, light standards, utility poles, bus shelters or other structures, posts, fences, shrubs or trees. Signs can't be placed anywhere that the city Traffic Engineer deems a pedestrian or traffic hazard.
Signs on private property are limited to 32 square feet in area and six feet in height. Signs can be freestanding or attached to a private fence or structure, but they can't obstruct the vision of vehicular traffic or interfere with pedestrian traffic.
Candidates for Yorba Linda's City Council positions receive a copy of the guidelines when they submit their nomination papers to the city clerk, but candidates for other positions do not receive the guidelines when they sign up at the county Registrar of Voters office.
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Don't expect to see signs for candidates for the two open positions on the board of directors for the Yorba Linda Water District because only the two incumbents – Trudi DesRoches and Gene Hernandez – filed to run
DesRoches was first appointed in 2020 when she was one of only two candidates seeking election, and Hernandez was named in January. Ten elections have been canceled since public voting began in 1959 due to a lack of challengers.