Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Robert H. Lynn <br />April 15, 2008 <br />Page 15 <br /> <br />Channel's statutory analysis for preemption would require that this Court give an unduly narrow <br />reading to Minnesota's statutes which provide that Minnesota localities can impose more <br />restrictive ordinances on advertising and advertising devices than required by state law." Clear <br />Channel Outdoor, Order Denying Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Exhibit D, at 18. <br /> <br />Finally, allowing local governments to regulate changing billboards more restrictively <br />than the state can hardly have "an adverse effect on the general state population." While local <br />authority may result in a patchwork of varying regulations, that does not warrant the pre-emption <br />oflocal authority. See Mangold Midwest Co., 143 N.W.2d at 821. <br /> <br />For all these reasons, the Hennepin County District Court was correct in its conclusion <br />that "the record does not demonstrate that the Minnesota legislature intended to occupy the field <br />of outdoor billboard regulation, and preclude municipalities from imposing more restrictive <br />rules." Clear Channel Outdoor, Order Denying Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction, <br />Exhibit D, at 19. Accordingly, the City's external lighting regulation applies to Plaintiffs sign. <br />And because Plaintiffs sign violates that lighting regulation, the City's enforcement of its Sign <br />Ordinance was lawful and the City is entitled to the removal of the LED sign. <br /> <br />3. The City is Not Estopped from Enforcing its Sign Ordinance <br /> <br />Plaintiff claims that the City is somehow estopped from enforcing its sign ordinance or <br />waived its ability to do so because it approved Plaintiffs electrical permit application and <br />because the City has never enforced sign permit requirements against Clear Channel. <br />Significantly, Plaintiffs electrical permit application contains no information or disclosure by <br />Plaintiff that it was seeking the electrical pennit for the purpose of installing an LED sign face. <br />Even though the City's sign code requires a permit for any sign alteration, Plaintiff failed to <br />submit a sign permit application in advance of the installation of the LED sign face, thereby <br />depriving the City of notice and information that Plaintiff intended to install an LED sign face. <br />Indeed, Plaintiffs strategy was to secretly install LED sign faces on signs located in Arden Hills <br />and other Minnesota communities without regard for whether such signs were permitted by local <br />regulations and without obtaining prior approvals from the municipalities in which such signs <br />were located. The Hennepin County District Court specifically found that there was "substantial <br />evidence to support Minnetonka's claim that Clear Channel avoided disclosing its plans to <br />deploy LED billboards in the City of Minnetonka, and operated 'under the radar' in order to get <br />the billboards up and running, in order to meet its expansion and profit goals for 2006." Clear <br />Channel Outdoor, Order Denying Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Exhibit D, at 10. <br />Accordingly, the fact that the City granted an electrical permit based on an application that failed <br />to contain information regarding Plaintiffs intentions to install an LED sign face does not mean <br />that it impliedly granted permission to Plaintiff to install an LED sign face or waived its right to <br />enforce its own sign ordinance and require a sign permit for any sign alteration. Nor does the <br />fact that the City did not raise any concerns during Plaintiffs quiet installation of the LED sign <br />