Fayette County

is cracking down on violations of its sign ordinance.

"We were

starting to look like Gwinnett County," said County Commission Chairman

Harold Bost. He said he returned from a trip recently and noticed a proliferation

of signs of various sizes and colors.

County law

limits temporary sign sizes to 12 inches tall and 18 inches wide, and

requires that all signs be brown with white lettering to prevent a hodgepodge.

"We issued

12 citations to John Wieland [homes] weekend before last," he said.

"Several places have received letters of warning and the next step

will be citations," he added.

If the Board

of Commissioners approves, Bost said, notices will be put in residents'

water bills explaining the law and asking for cooperation.

Failure to

comply, he said, "takes away from the beauty of the county. If we

don't enforce [rules for temporary signs], then we can't enforce any of

it," he added. The ordinance includes rules about the sizes and numbers

of signs for businesses as well.

Commissioners

approved the sign ordinance last year after more than two years of discussion,

modeling the rules for temporary signs after Peachtree City's ordinance.

"Thank

goodness that we did," said Bost. "This thing has just gotten

worse and worse.

We are moving

forward with enforcement so we don't get like these other places [where

a proliferation of signs has spoiled the local beauty]."