Lamar Advertising of Michigan, Inc. v. City of Utica

819 F. Supp. 2d 657, 2011 WL 1641770
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMay 2, 2011
DocketCase 09-14218
StatusPublished

This text of 819 F. Supp. 2d 657 (Lamar Advertising of Michigan, Inc. v. City of Utica) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lamar Advertising of Michigan, Inc. v. City of Utica, 819 F. Supp. 2d 657, 2011 WL 1641770 (E.D. Mich. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

DENISE PAGE HOOD, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant City of Utica’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 9, filed on May 18, 2010], On June 8, 2010, Plaintiff filed a Response to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 14], to which Defendant filed a Reply [Docket No. 15, filed on June 14, 2010].

This matter is also before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment, filed on May 24, 2010 [Docket No. 11]. Defendant filed a Response to Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment on June 14, 2010 [Docket No. 16], to which Plaintiff filed a Reply [Docket No. 17, filed on June 25, 2010]. On January 12, 2011, Plaintiff filed a Submission of Supplemental Authority [Docket No. 18], to which Defendant filed a Reply to Plaintiffs Submission of Supplemental Authority [Docket No. 19, filed on January 19, 2010].

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

At issue in this case is the constitutionality of various provisions of the City of Utica’s regulatory scheme concerning “nonaccessory signs,” otherwise known as billboards.

In 1992, the City of Utica enacted the zoning ordinance at issue, which regulates billboards and other signs. The ordinance defines a nonaccessory sign as “[a] sign that is not accessory to the main or principal use of the premises.” Section 1500 of the zoning ordinance states, in part, that “the purpose of this section and the subsections thereunder is to permit such signs and visual outdoor advertising as will not, by reason of their size, location, or manner of display, endanger public health and/or safety....” Before its amendment in 2008, the 1992 ordinance imposed the following restrictions on the placement and physical dimensions of billboards:

Section 1507. Nonaccessory signs (billboards).
1. Nonaccessory signs not exceeding 250 square feet in area shall be permitted only on [sic] the I and C-2 districts provided such signs shall not be less than 100 feet from any residential district and provided further that at least 500 feet shall be provided between signs.

Utica, Mich., Zoning Ordinance, § 1507 (1992).

In 2008, CBS Outdoor, a competitor to Plaintiff, proposed to the City of Utica that CBS Outdoor be allowed to lease city property to erect a billboard that did not comply with the requirements of Section 1507. Utica subsequently directed its zoning consultant, John Ambrose, to propose an amendment to 1507. Ambrose then wrote a letter to the Utica Planning Commission and City Council with proposed language for the amendment:

Pursuant to the discussion between the City Council and a Mr. Thomas Bugay of CBS Outdoor at an extensive meeting of the City Council held on May 13, 2008, concerning the placement of a digital billboard sign on City property, John Ambrose & Company, Inc. is pleased to submit the following proposed zoning amendment to Section 1507 that would allow such a sign with *660 out rezoning property or the granting of any required variances. The following proposed language would be added to existing language which reads as follows (the proposed language is printed in “bold italic”, [sic]
Section 1507. Nonaccessory signs (billboards).
1. Nonaccessory signs not exceeding 250 square feet in area shall be permitted only in the I and C-2 districts provided such signs shall not be less than 100 feet from any residential district and provided further that at least 500 feet shall be provided between signs. The Planning Commission, however, may waive location and sign area requirements when said nonaccessory signs (billboards) are located on City owned property.

Ex. E to Pl.’s Mot. for Summ. J., May 14, 2008, Letter from John Ambrose & Co., Inc. The City Council accepted the proposed amendment, and unanimously approved the lease of city property to CBS Outdoor for installation of a billboard. Id.

After noticing CBS Outdoor’s new billboard, Plaintiff Lamar Advertising (“Lamar”) leased private property, zoned C-2, in the vicinity of the CBS billboard in order to erect a billboard of its own. After submitting a site plan for its proposed billboard, planning consultant Ambrose recommended denial of the plan because the proposed billboard had an area of 672 square feet, well in excess of the 250 square foot limit in Section 1507, but equal in size to the CBS Outdoor billboard. Ambrose noted that the plan showed the proposed billboard was set back only one foot from the property line, rather than the three feet required by the ordinance, and that the proposed site was only 90 feet away from a single-family residential district in spite of the 100 foot distance required by the ordinance. Ex. C to Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. The Planning Commission accepted Ambrose’s recommendation and denied Plaintiffs site plan.

In August 2009, Plaintiff submitted an application for a building permit for another billboard on Van Dyke Road on private property. The size of the proposed billboard was also in excess of the zoning requirements. Utica’s building inspector orally denied Plaintiffs application, finding that the plans were illegible and not sufficiently complete to proceed to the Planning Commission. Dep. of Edward Durbin, Ex. I to Pl.’s Mot. for Summ. J.

In October 2009, Plaintiff filed this lawsuit challenging the zoning ordinance on two grounds, (1) “deprivation of civil rights as a result of the zoning ordinance’s unconstitutional restrictions on commercial and noncommercial speech” and (2) “deprivation of civil rights as a result of Utica’s unconstitutional prior restraint on billboards.” PL’s Mot. for Summ. J. at 7. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

Summary Judgment is appropriate if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,” show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Thompson v. Ashe, 250 F.3d 399, 405 (6th Cir.2001). “If, on the other hand, a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party, summary judgment is inappropriate.” Pagan v. Fruchey, 492 F.3d 766, 779 (6th Cir. 2007) (internal citation omitted). The moving party bears the burden of establishing the lack of any genuine issue of material fact, and any inferences should be *661 made in favor of the non-moving party. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

B. Ripeness

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Bluebook (online)
819 F. Supp. 2d 657, 2011 WL 1641770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lamar-advertising-of-michigan-inc-v-city-of-utica-mied-2011.