Wyckoff Amending Sign Ordinance Tuesday After ACLU Threat

WYCKOFF, N.J. — With two weeks left to go before the general election, the Township Committee is amending its rules regarding the placement of political signs in town after the ACLU got involved in the matter.

The committee is expected to approve an ordinance Tuesday that would allow temporary political signs to be displayed as long as they are set back from the edge of the street and do not obstruct people's view of the street or sidewalk. Signs are not allowed on public property or county and state roads.

The changes were proposed in September in response the ACLU threatened legal action against the township.

Violators would face a $500 fine.

Town resident Stanley Goodman has been fighting the law after he was told by Wyckoff police officers he had to remove political signs from his yard.

Police told Stan Goodman's wife June 28 that the signs on the couple's lawn could not be displayed and were violating the law.

"When police come to your door and tell you to take down signs about your beliefs, it intimidates a community into silence," Goodman previously said in a statement. "This ordinance went much further than legislating aesthetics — it made people afraid to express themselves under the First Amendment. Someone had to do something, so I felt I had to step forward."

Goodman challenged the town’s enforcement of the sign ordinance with the ACLU-NJ’s help, and, for a time, the town stopped enforcing it.

After trying to resolve the matter with town officials, Goodman called Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director of the ACLU's New Jersey chapter. The ACLU wrote letters to town officials in 2012 and 2016 regarding the ordinance.

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