Signs of the Times in Darien [Update]

Update 6:00 a.m., Friday:

Robert "Woody" Woodside, code compliance officer in the Darien Planning and Zoning Department, said the number of signs he collected in a one-month period from Sept. 21 to Oct. 21 amounted to 120.

At the beginning of that period, he had collected quite a few signs near the Trader Joe store on the Post Road, he said, and then he found that when he'd removed a bunch, more returned in the same area.

He took those, too, and began saving the ones he had, then went out to gather more.

"There wasn't any particular plan, or particular inquiry," he said. He just wanted to be able to demonstrate how many signs were out there, around town.

Original article, Thursday:

One of the strangest sights in town on Thursday afternoon was in the front yard of Planning & Zoning Commission member Reese Hutchison, at the corner of Hecker Ave. and Ash St.

Signs—not just a few of them, not just a dozen or a score, but dozens upon dozens of temporary lawn signs advertising everything from a Greek festival to pizzerias, to contractors and more. Nearly all were placed neatly in rows. It would've made a good college prank.

But it was Robert Woodside, a code compliance officer with the Darien Planning and Zoning Department, and Brian Clark, a temporary employee at the department, who were placing them on the front lawn.

"Ridiculous? Huh?" said Woodside, looking over the crazy-looking crop.

Woodside said he and Clark had placed the signs in the yard to take a picture showing just how many illegal signs can be found around Darien in the course of a month (in this case, from Sept. 21 to Oct. 21). Asked what use he would make of the picture, Woodside just shrugged.

"Just to kind of document it," he said. The large number of signs show how many will be planted around town in the spring or fall months, he said. Hutchison had agreed to let Woodside use his front yard for the demonstration. Hutchison's yard was a good spot because it's only blocks from Town Hall, Woodside said.

The town government does have a municipal rule against placing more than one sign on property—and it must be 30 feet from the street—Woodside said.

"The truth is, we try to encourage e everybody not to put them out—the contractors at least," he said.

Wooside said the town tries to be flexible: It gives a pass to organizations like the Darien Nature Center or the Boy Scouts for special community events that come and go.

Woodside said he sometimes collects the signs from around town. When he does, they're placed with an employee of the Department of Public Works, who puts them in a DPW truck. People who complain that their signs have been taken can generally get them back from the town.

As soon as Clark snapped a picture of the signs (and talked to a reporter for a bit), he and Woodside began collecting the signs again to put them away, and the strange sight in town began to vanish.