The Douglas County commission meets in the historic courtroom on the second floor of the old county courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

It is a good bet that Douglas County motorists will see more political signs than normal this election season.

Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday will consider a resolution that would allow political signs to be placed in the rights of ways of public roads, but with some restrictions aimed at ensuring they don’t become a distraction to drivers.

Public rights of way are those strips of ground between the roadway and sidewalk that, for the most part, few care about until election season when politicians plant hundreds of signs to beat their rivals in name recognition.

For years, Douglas County and most every other local government banned political signs on rights of way mostly because of concerns over driver safety.

But last year, the Kansas Legislature passed a new law that overrides local government bans on political signs in rights of way and allows politicians to begin placing their signs in those areas 45 days prior to an election.

Larry Baer, general counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities, said most local governments have agreed that state law prevails and are changing their ordinances and regulations to reflect that.

“They are accepting the fact that political signs can go in the right-of-ways,” Baer said.

The next election is the state primary on Aug. 2, so area candidates were able to start placing signs in rights of way on Saturday.

The state law does have an exemption, however, and that allows cities and counties to regulate the sign placement to make sure drivers’ “sight lines” are not impeded, said Keith Browning, director of Douglas County Public Works.

On Wednesday, Browning will recommend to the commission a resolution that would set up “safety zones” in the rights of way:

• No political signs should be closer than 20 feet from the edge of the paved road or the gravel road.

• No political signs at intersections should be within 300 feet from each direction of the paved or gravel roadway.

The height and width of the signs also will be restricted so they do not exceed 12 square feet and are not higher than 42 inches, Browning said.

“We are proposing this so signs don’t block sight distance,” Browning said. “Drivers need an open sight triangle where they can look down on both sides of the road.”

The county’s Public Works Department will enforce the resolution by removing the sign and disposing of it without notifying the owner, Browning said. Public works employees also can remove signs and replace them while doing maintenance work, such as mowing, on the rights of way.

The state law was proposed last year after controversy over political signs in Johnson County arose after some cities had passed ordinances restricting the number of signs a resident could place in his yard.

Overland Park city officials have posted on the city’s website new rules for political signs in roadways.

In Douglas County, officials were unaware of the new law until they received some complaints recently about political signs that had been placed in right of ways by County Commission candidate Michelle Derousseau and her campaign workers.

After doing legal research, county officials drafted the resolution.

Derousseau told the Journal-World that the majority of her signs were placed properly and that one had been moved temporarily next to the road when the property owner was mowing.

Last weekend Derousseau sent an email to her campaign workers acknowledging that “my campaign was the specific target of the complaints and investigation,” but said the county did not have any issues with her signs.

“Other than the occasional sign that someone mowing had moved and placed in a questionable location none of my signs were ‘illegally’ placed,” she wrote.

The city of Lawrence drafted an ordinance last year that was similar to the county’s new resolution, but after a federal court ruling appeared to conflict with the new state law, city officials had concerns and did not advance the draft ordinance.

The Douglas County Commission meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. To see the commission’s entire agenda, visit douglascountyks.org