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- <br />��NIE �PECI�"ICS <br />�. 'I'hree �iaeer-s %r° the red �hite ae�d bl�e. <br />�ne community tried to iimit the number of flags a car dealer couid fly. However, being <br />American flags, ihe owner was able to drape himseif in patriotism, attract the attention of <br />a popular talk radio host, and eifectively thwart any attempts at limiting the.nuznber of <br />these bIatant advertising devices on his premises. Choose your battles carefuliy! <br />2. Bi€lboa�-ds. <br />Billboards are a big issue because biilboards are big and they are big money-makers. <br />Billboards are signs that many people love to hate, but they have some special protection. <br />They can be reguiated, as many communities do, by Iimiting their size, locaiion, and <br />spacing along roadways. They can be prohibited, and in some anstances, existing ones <br />can be amoi-tized and required to be removed. But be aware fhere is protection in Federal <br />legislation and a State Attorney General's opinion that certain billboards along Federal <br />highways are protected from removal by amortization and in fact must be purchased if a <br />community reaIly wants them dor�vn. At the very least, a commuruty that wants to limii <br />billboards can prohibit new ones, leaving the old ones as legal non-conforming uses. <br />One approach to limiting billboards is to define them as "principal structures" and allow <br />oniy one principal structure per loi. If an owner wants a building, the billboard must go. ,=''� <br />3. oi hol hol . . <br />If you want to make enemies fast, go after church signs. While we all want to see lofty- <br />minded communiiy institutions flourish, a community must �nake sure that it is uphoiding <br />the equal protection clause and treating equal situations similarly. We canno� singie out <br />chuxches or temples for special consideration. For example, we ought to allow an <br />apartment buitding in a residential district the same right to a big banner sign several <br />times a year that we give the church next door to it. And the Iittle off-premise directional <br />signs (often oIder) on street comers are helpful in directing one to one's wozship center of <br />choice, but would we do the same for McDonaid's or �urger King? Why not? <br />4. �ff-��e,mises. <br />Most ordinances prohibit off-premise signs, i.e., signs that adveriise goods or services not <br />offered at the location of the signe Wliile there may have been some strong feelings <br />behind these regulations, rnany communities are coming around to the position that we <br />really shouldn't regulate the content of signs (other than obscene messages or those thai <br />interfere with traffic safety). Tl�is may seem strange at first, but we need to get bacic �o <br />the public purpose, the rational basis. Why are we regulating signs? The xnost likety <br />4 <br />