Montana billboard restrictions upheld

By The Associated Press

02.17.03

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HELENA, Mont. — Local laws restricting billboards in Flathead County and Whitefish are constitutional because they fulfill legitimate government goals of reducing visual blight and traffic hazards, the Montana Supreme Court has ruled.

In both instances, the ordinances affecting size and placement of such signs don't go farther in restricting free speech than is necessary to achieve those objectives, a unanimous five-judge panel said on Feb. 13.

The decision was a defeat for Montana Media Inc., which owns and rents out billboards subject to the county and city regulations.

When the company was informed that some of its signs violated the ordinances, Montana Media sued the two governments. It contended the billboard regulations violated state law and both the federal and Montana Constitutions.

District Judge Stewart Stadler of Kalispell sided with the city and county. The company appealed, getting a court order that put his ruling on hold while the high court considered the case.

Before the Supreme Court, both sides agreed that the billboards represent a form of commercial speech protected by the Constitution, and that aesthetics and traffic safety are important government interests.

The questions to be resolved were whether the ordinances advanced those interests and whether they went too far in doing so, the court said.

The justices found the ordinances seemed to fit the governments' goals.

"Setting billboards back from the public right of way and restricting billboard size alleviates the visual impact of billboards and improves both safety and aesthetics," Justice Terry Trieweiler wrote for the court.

"Furthermore, permitting billboards in industrial and commercial areas where aesthetics have already been sacrificed for commerce, while prohibiting them in other zones makes perfect sense and is in line with the city's objective," he said.

As for the county ordinance and its limits on sign sizes in certain areas, the court said that "it is within the county's discretion to prohibit billboards in areas where other commercial or noncommercial signs are permitted."

The court also rejected Montana Media's argument that the ordinances, because they allow the government to deny a permit based on a sign's message, are an unconstitutional prior restraint of speech.

In the city's case, the ordinance requires issuance of a permit for a change of copy, design, size of illumination within 14 days so long as the change complies with city laws and regulations, the court said. City officials don't have "unfettered discretion" in making such decisions, it said.

The county's permit process doesn't even allow officials to consider a billboard's message, the court noted.

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