Oneida County zoning won’t pursue Bangstad for alleged sign violation

The Oneida County zoning committee voted Monday not to move forward with prosecution of Kirk Bangstad’s political sign on the side of the Minocqua Brewing Company, after the county’s corporation counsel advised that he considers the county’s sign ordinance to be unconstitutional.

The zoning department had advised Bangstad that the sign was larger than the 32 square feet allowed for political signs; Bangstad maintained that the ordinance was unconstitutional.

The problem is not the regulation of the sign’s size per se, corporation counsel Brian Desmond said at Monday’s zoning meeting, but that the ordinance regulates “political” signs differently than it does other signs, such as real estate. That makes it regulation by content, which the Supreme Court has ruled to be unconstitutional even if the ordinance does not regulate the message of signs within the political category.

The county will now revise its sign ordinance and in the meantime evaluate sign complaints on a case-by-case basis.

The county knew about problems with the sign ordinance since 2016, but never took any action to amend the ordinance, and there was some finger pointing at Monday's zoning meeting over that.

A full story will appear in Tuesday’s paper.

Richard Moore is the author of the forthcoming “Storyfinding: From the Journey to the Story” and can be reached at richardmoorebooks.com.