10-12-2005 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Eden Prairie, Hopkins say no to big billboards David Peterson, Star Tribune September 25, 2005 Minnesota cities could wind up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars defending themselves against a lawyer from Atlanta who travels the nation like a high -tech Johnny Appleseed, sowing giant rotating billboards in his wake. "These are five- to seven -story steel structures that will be a blight on the landscape for three generations to come," said Bill Brinton, a Florida -based lawyer who specializes in helping cities fight back. "I've never encountered a city yet that says 'Golly, we don't have enough billboards in this town.' " E. Adam Webb seeks out communities with poorly drafted signage laws, say Brinton and others who have battled him. Those opponents say he challenges the rules in court, then seeks to use the opening he creates to earn the lucrative right to put up the types of signs community leaders had hoped to ban. So far, Eden Prairie and Hopkins are the only Minnesota cities that have tangled with Webb. But under a mutual aid pact through the state's League of Cities, many others will help foot the cost of their fight. Eden Prairie's attorney calls it a "sign code shakedown." And at a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court, Judge David Doty hinted the cost will be high. "You've probably killed two or three trees," he told attorneys on both sides. Thirty -five pages of arguments ought to be enough, he added, but he counted 158. "Let me be nice: You've overbriefed," he said. Webb's adversaries admit that he has been shrewd enough to take advantage of an opportunity that the legal system has presented. Brinton counts about 110 similar sign cases in several states, mostly in the Sun Belt. The problem, they say, is an obscure legal wrinkle that allows Webb to use defects in sign ordinances that have nothing to do with what he is seeking, to be used as a threat to disable the entire code. Cities faced with prolonged and costly litigation are tempted to give in and award him advertising spots that can be worth millions. "He wins the rights, then flips them to someone who wants to use them," said Daniel Mandelker, a professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, one of the nation's leading authorities on signage law. "In one case alone I've heard those rights were worth $9 million. He's been expanding nationally. He's everywhere." The two Minnesota cities vow that they won't settle, adding that an increasingly sophisticated network of opponents is figuring out how to counter Webb's efforts. Brinton says he is undefeated so far in 13 cases as counsel or co- counsel, mostly in Florida. Five of the cases are still pending. Webb declined to offer any comments for the record, saying he doesn't want to appear to be influencing judges through the media. But in court Friday he had plenty to say, accusing Eden Prairie of an "obnoxious," illegal and unconstitutional attempt to block his clients sign application. The laws were so confusing that the suburb has felt forced three times to go back to try to clean up the ordinance, he said. Last summer, Webb persuaded another federal judge to issue at least a preliminary order siding with him in his suit against Hopkins. In one key passage, U.S. District Judge Michael Davis said of Hopkins' signage codes: "Plaintiffs 3