The campaign signs that bespeckle or besmirch, depending on your point of view, the city of Oak Harbor are supposed to disappear completely from the public cityscape two weeks after the election, while the dancing pizza people can continue to shake their pepperoni indefinitely.

These amendments to the city’s temporary sign code are scheduled to be considered by the Oak Harbor City Council Wednesday, Nov. 7, the day after the election. The proposed changes are aimed at bringing the code in compliance with case law regarding free speech.

“Essentially, it addresses the types of signs that can be placed on private property and within the public right-of-way,” said Steve Powers, development services director.

The city’s planning commission decided to tackle the issue last summer after Scott Dudley, then a candidate for mayor, was contacted by the city’s code enforcement officer for putting up campaign signs earlier than allowed by city code. The code said they couldn’t be displayed more than 60 days before the election.

The city attorney, however, determined that it was an unconstitutional infringement of free speech. The council adopted an interim sign code doing away with the rule until the code can be permanently amended.

Powers said the planners decided to expand the focus of the amendment beyond political signs to all temporary signage, including commercial.

Powers said regulating signs is complex because of First Amendment rights and case law.

The planning commission originally proposed banning commercial sign wavers, including the dancing pizza guys, from sidewalks, but Powers said the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in the famous “Blazing Bagel case” that such a prohibition isn’t constitutionally permissible.

Powers emphasized that the code now makes a distinction between “political free speech signs” and “campaign signs.” Political signs pertain to a social or public issue while campaign signs are about an election.

The city can put more restrictions on campaign signs, as compared to political signs.

The proposed amendment places no limits on how long before an election a candidate can put up signs on public right-of-ways, but it states they have to be down by 14 days after the election.

Previously, the candidates had 10 days, but Powers said it probably doesn’t make much difference.

“Historically the candidates have been very, very responsible when it comes to removing signs,” he said.

In addition, Powers said the amendment clarifies that portable A-frame signs are allowed in the central business district, which is in the downtown Pioneer Way area.