Granite State Outdoor Advertising, Inc. wished to erect three billboards in the City of Roswell, each 672 square feet in area and 70 feet in height. The city rejected the applications because the sign code limited off-premises signs to a maximum area of 128 square feet and 12 feet in height. Granite challenged the city in state court, rather than federal court where it has been unsuccessful in advancing its strategy, and argued that the entire sign code, not just the size-limitation section, was unconstitutional. (see, See, Granite State Outdoor Advertising, Inc. v. Cobb County, Georgia, 193 Fed. Appx. 900, 2006 WL 2373528, where the 11th Circuit ruled that the sign industry does not have standing to bring facial challenges against the entire sign code.)
Granite asserted that the federal cases are inconsistent with Georgia law, but the state Supreme Court disagreed. The city’s denial of Granite’s sign application for failure to meet the height and size restrictions in the sign code was correct, the court concluded, because the restrictions were constitutional. Granite did not have standing to challenge any other provisions of the city sign code, only those that were the basis for the denial of its permit applications.
As one Georgia local government attorney noted, most sign ordinances limit the height and size of billboards, and “instead of challenging those provisions, which directly affect their ability to erect billboards, the companies challenge provisions that are completely unrelated in hopes they can have the entire regulatory scheme thrown out. This decision puts a stop to that.”
Granite State Outdoor Advertising, Inc. v. City of Roswell, 2008 WL 622814 (Ga. 3/10/2008).
The opinion is also available at: http://www.gasupreme.us/pdf/s07a1885.pdf
See also, http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/stories/2008/03/10/roswell_signs_0311.html
Also last week, the Georgia House out an end to H.B. 1318, a measure that would have required local governments to compensate billboard owners forced to move or remove their signs. See, http://www.macon.com/149/story/291770.html
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