Opinion ID: 2613839
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Colorado Outdoor Advertising Act

Text: At trial, respondent landowner testified that one of the factors which he considered in determining that the remainder of his property was damaged by the taking was his inability to erect new advertising devices at the point where the frontage road intersects State Highway 50. Respondents' appraiser testified that in his opinion the remainder had been damaged because people traveling west on State Highway 50 would not be able to see the sign on respondents' property until they were in front of the property and then a potential customer would have to proceed to an exit from the highway, turn around and backtrack in order to reach the property. The petitioner asserts that it was error to allow the jury to hear testimony and assess damages to the remainder based upon advertising restrictions which were enacted as a valid exercise of the police power. See part 4 of article 1 of title 43, C.R.S.1973 (Colorado Outdoor Advertising Act). Respondents argue that damages to the remainder were caused by the taking of property and not by an exercise of the police power under the Colorado Outdoor Advertising Act, which imposed sign restrictions on their property long before condemnation proceedings were commenced. The restrictions on advertising, according to the respondents' theory, affected the property both before and after the taking, and were, therefore, properly considered by the jury in determining damages to the remainder. The distinction between a taking which requires compensation and a restriction imposed under the police power which is damnum absque injuria, Swisher v. Brown, 157 Colo. 378, 402 P.2d 621 (1965), should not be confused by the fact that a compensable taking occurs contemporaneously with a noncompensable exercise of the police power. In State ex rel. Moore v. Bastian, 97 Idaho 444, 546 P.2d 399 (1976), the state brought an action to condemn a portion of the Bastian's land for the purpose of improving a portion of the state highway system. In addition to the Bastian's claims for compensation for the property actually taken and the damages accruing to the remainder, they also sought damages for the depreciation in the value of the remaining property by reason of expected diversion of traffic from controls which the state proposed to place on the streets in conjunction with the widening of the streets. The Bastians tendered evidence to establish that the traffic control devices discouraged customer patronage at the store located on their property and the remainder. The state objected to the admission of the testimony because the police power was the basis for the erection of the traffic control devices. The Idaho Supreme Court agreed with the state and concluded that the placement of medians and any consequent injury caused thereby were the results of an exercise of the state's police power rather than a taking under its power of eminent domain, and held that the damages caused by the exercise of the police power were noncompensable. The court stated that the fact that an exercise of the police power occurred contemporaneously with a direct taking did not require compensation. Accord, State v. Monmounth Hills, Inc., 110 N.J.Super. 449, 266 A.2d 133 (App.Div.1970); Jacobson v. State Highway Commission, 244 A.2d 419 (Me.1968). 2A J. Sackman, Nichols on Eminent Domain, § 6.4443(4) (rev. 3d ed. 1976). Respondents do not assert that the Colorado Outdoor Advertising Act is an invalid exercise of the state's police power. Accordingly, the jury should not have been allowed to consider damages to the remainder resulting from advertising restrictions which were enacted as a valid exercise of the police power. We reverse and remand to the court of appeals with directions to return this case to the district court for a new trial on the issue of damages to the remainder consistent with the directions contained in this opinion.