The City of Saco regulates signs through the Saco Zoning Ordinance, Section 707. A part of the ordinance that frequently gets overlooked is the section controlling what we would term "off-premises signs." That section reads "No sign shall announce, advertise, or name any service or product not available, sold or manufactured on the premises."

The Code Enforcement Department has noted many of these types of signs being placed alongside the road advertising everything from "Hot Tubs" for sale to services for lawn care and maintenance, junk removal and painting services. These signs are also frequently attached to utility poles The City does permit the installation of contractor signs on the property being worked on but in general these signs are prohibited by ordinance. We make every attempt to advise the owners of these signs to remove them when they are discovered but most times we will simply remove them and hold them for 10 days before disposing of them.

This same rule applies to real estate directional signs. Signs advertising the sale or lease of property must be ON the property being offered and are not permitted on street corners.