We have a law in effect two years ago that we can't put anything in public areas either, it has to be on the house side of a sidewalk if you put one in a yard, not between the sidewalk and a street.
There was some schmuck that drove through our town, from like two hours away sticking them all over public domain, and I emailed him and told him to play the game fairly like the rest of us and obey the laws...and he basically told me to shove it up my butt and that I shouldn't be jealous of how well his business plan works, and that I didn't think of it.