A referendum asking voters in the Lehigh Acres Municipal District whether they want to give the agency the authority over some signage will not impact street signs or obligate the district to pay for them.

In a recent letter, State Rep. Matt Caldwell states that the proposed referendum allowing the district to erect decorative signs, monuments, banners and lights does not include all signage rights.

In the letter from to the district’s board, Caldwell clarified the intent behind legislation and his position on the signage referendum. He states that the “portion of the law authorizing signage powers did not envision regular street sign power, rather it was focused on signage relevant only to Lehigh Acres.”

He goes on to explain that the regulation of street signs is a function of the Lee County government.

Caldwell ended his letter by giving his support to LAMSID in the referendum vote.

According to Lehigh Acres Municipal District Commissioner Michael Welch, the letter was partly in response to messages up on a local Facebook group’s page, which he says is spreading erroneous information.

“The page is telling Lehigh citizens to vote ‘no’ on the upcoming referendum. It goes on to say that the district will be taking over all the street signs and that it would cost the district millions of dollars. This is completely untrue and we felt it important to clarify what the referendum really means,” said Welch.

A community group recently posted a notice on its Facebook page asking people to vote “no” on the November referendum unless they would like their taxes raised. It goes onto say that under the referendum, LA-MSID would take over all street signage in Lehigh from the county and receive no money for this undertaking.

According to Welch, this initiative will not allow the district to control all signage in Lehigh Acres. It would only pertain to certain signs and monuments relevant to Lehigh Acres such as the “cookie” at the intersection of Homestead Road and Lee Boulevard.

“Since what was posted on Facebook was not reliable information, we felt that we need to clean this up. I believe that people should make a well-informed decision based on the facts, not a bunch of hearsay and rumors being spread on Facebook,” said Welch.

Welch went onto to say how misleading rumors such as these actually end up hurting the community, not helping it move forward.

“A copy of Rep. Caldwell’s letter to the district and information on the referendum can be found on our website,” said Welch.

For more information on the referendum, visit the LA-MSID’s website at www.la-msid.com, and click on the Signage link.