THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 1, 1995 TAG: 9508010221
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
The sign posted on Cedar Road last week was meant to direct parents to the site of the annual Cub Scout camp.
Scout volunteers who put up the sign didn't realize they were violating a Chesapeake zoning ordinance that bars signs on city property along streets - until a big orange sticker was slapped on the offending sign Thursday threatening up to $1,000 per day in fines.
Carl E. Hall, the city's director of inspections, said Monday that no penalty would be assessed against the Cub Scouts because the organization took the sign down Friday, when the weeklong day camp ended.
Fines are imposed only on violators who repeatedly refuse to fix their zoning problems and who must be taken to General District Court, Hall said.
``We're not in the habit of prosecuting our citizens,'' he said.
The orange violation sticker alarmed Cub Scout volunteers, said Mary H. Guynn, who for years has donated her time for the annual camp.
Guynn's daughter discovered the notice Friday while removing the sign.
Guynn said the inspector never came to the camp to warn the Cub Scouts or to ask them to remove the sign.
``I was kind of surprised to find the ticket on there for the zoning violation that we couldn't possibly have known about,'' Guynn said.
``We didn't know,'' she said. ``I mean, we had it (the sign) out there so they could find the Cub Scout day camp . . . because it moves every year.''
Chester D. McClain, the city's zoning administrator, said the Cub Scouts would have been allowed to post their sign on private property along Cedar Road, with notice to the city and permission from the property owners.
``They should call us next year when they do this again,'' McClain said. by CNB