BONNERS FERRY — A sign installed to highlight the Boundary County’s two veterans’ groups was put up without the required approval from Idaho Transportation Department, according to state officials. 

The sign was installed Nov. 15 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3622 and American Legion Post 55 groups on Main Street. Now, ITD officials said the sign encroaches onto state right-of-way and could be removed because they do not have a permit for it and because it does not comply with ITD regulations for outdoor signs. 

The sign is expected to be removed 10 days from the date the warning was posted, which would place the date it needs to be removed by as Thursday, Nov. 27. 

In the meantime, VFW and American Legion officials said they are working to figure out a solution but are concerned that the sign will be placed too far back to make it easily seen.

“Typically, when there’s an illegal encroachment on the highway, we have state statutes that govern how we remove it,” said Stacy Simkins, ITD’s right of way agent for District 1. “It’s tagged, we send them a notice and then they have ten days to remove it at their expense.” 

Simkins said members of the community involved with the sign had been notified multiple times about the need for a permit. 

“I told them verbally in July, when someone from the VFW inquired,” Simkins said. “It was verbal and again through text message, I think sometime around the beginning of this month — it had to have been around the third or fourth.” 

ITD’s outdoor advertising general information states that signs for a business may be placed on another person’s property along a state highway, but only if the sign has an ITD permit, follows local ordinances and has any required local permits. 

“We still have requirements on where those signs can be located on private property when they’re adjacent to the highway,” Simkins said. “It’s too close to meet the standard where it is.”  

Simkins said the sign would have to be relocated even if the groups were to obtain a permit. 

“They provided a site plan that showed the sign to be located 35 feet from the right of way,” Simkins said. “It’s clearly not 35 feet from the right of way.”   

ITD officials said signs cannot be located within 50 feet of the right-of-way line of intersecting roads when intersections are 500 feet or less apart. Signs placed between 50 and 100 feet from the right-of-way line must have at least 14 feet of clearance from the travel surface.  

The bottom edge of the VFW/American Legion sign is below that required height. 

The sign cost $27,000. Of that, $9,000 was expected to come from the county, but that funding was contingent on receiving the proper ITD permit, according to a county official. The groups have not yet received the money.