HIT: Roger and Rose Young with one of the signs that attracted a council fine.
ROSE and Roger Young made just seven dollars at their garage sale before council workers told them they had been slugged with over $300 worth of fines from signage infringements.For the past three years the Youngs have held their annual garage sale at their Mitchell Park property, without incident, on the same weekend as the Super Southern Swap Meet because, they said, it was the only time of year the garage sale was financially viable. But this year Mrs Young was reduced to tears after City of Ballarat council workers told her she had been issued with a fine because their signs had been placed about 30 centimetres into council land."Yes, we were trying to cash in on the swap meet, but a swap meet doesn't have clothing and linen and kitchen stuff and books," Mrs Young said. "This is a garage sale, it's not swap meet stuff and they have made such a fuss and picked on us."Mrs Young said the council workers had told her the signs were "endangering infrastructure", which she said was "barely valid"."My star pickets were only driven 15 centimetres into the soil and as most people know telephone cables and other underground conduits should be set at a minimum of 60 centimetres below ground level," she said. Mrs Young said the couple initially placed one of the signs at the airport turn-off on Learmonth Road, but it was removed by a council worker on Thursday.When the officer informed them their sign had been illegally placed, they sought permission from neighbours to use their front yards to position the signs."We had signs in three separate places in private property (on Friday), and they brought one back and said it was 12 inches out," Mrs Young said."The council worker said we were already up for $300 of infringements."It's so nitpicking, all the neighbours we went to ask couldn't believe it."I'm not very happy, I'm a peace maker and I don't like conflict."City of Ballarat manager of regulatory services Joseph Spiteri would not be drawn into whether Mr and Mrs Young had been singled out for any reason or if council would be undertaking more regular patrols of illegal signage."Council officers deal with issues when they are directly visually observed as a result of patrols or when they are brought to council's attention by virtue of complaints," Mr Spiteri said."Advertising signs and general sale of goods on council controlled land is regulated so as not to interfere with the general enjoyment of public areas by the broad community."Local Law 15, 8.2 (a) states that a person must not, without a permit, place or cause or authorise another person to place an advertising sign on any council land.
