Opinion ID: 3050409
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First Amendment: Unbridled Discretion

Text: [7] The prior restraint doctrine requires that a licensing regime “avoid placing unbridled discretion in the hands of government officials.” GK Ltd. Travel v. City of Lake Oswego, 436 F.3d 1064, 1082 (9th Cir. 2006). This requirement seeks to “alleviate the threat of content-based, discriminatory enforcement that arises where the licensing official enjoys unduly broad discretion in determining whether to grant or deny a permit.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). To avoid impermissible discretion, an ordinance must “contain adequate standards to guide the official’s decision and render it subject to judicial review.” Thomas v. Chicago Park Dist., 534 U.S. 316, 323 (2002). Under the old ordinance, a permit was required for any sign that was not expressly exempted from the permit scheme. Former City of Beaumont Municipal Code (hereafter “Old Ordinance”) § 17.60.020(A).6 The Director of Planning was required to rule upon any permit application within fifteen days, and was specifically instructed that his review was to “ensure that any sign proposal is in conformance with this 6 The Old Ordinance contained a list of exempted signs, none of which are implicated by Outdoor Media’s permit applications. See Old Ordinance § 17.60.025(A). OUTDOOR MEDIA GROUP v. CITY OF BEAUMONT 14409 Chapter and is consistent with its intent and purpose.” Id. § 17.60.020(D). The city’s delineated intent and purpose includes encouraging “a desirable urban character which has a minimum of overhead clutter,” enhancing the “economic value of the community and each area thereof through the regulation of the size, number, location, design and illumination of signs,” and encouraging “signs which are compatible with on-site and adjacent land uses.” Id. § 17.60.005. [8] Notably, the Old Ordinance explicitly prohibited all “Off-site signs, except temporary subdivision directional signs as provided for in this Chapter.” Id. § 17.60.025(B). “Off-site signs” were defined as “[a]ny sign which advertises or informs in any manner businesses, services, goods, persons or events at some location other than that upon which the sign is located.” Id. § 17.60.010(M). Regulations governing the Commercial-Freeway Service zone, where Outdoor Media sought to erect its signs, were even more specific: the planning commission could grant permits for freeway-facing signs only if the signs are “located upon or within five hundred (500) feet of the property upon which the use identified is located” and “in the vicinity of a freeway interchange and within three hundred (300) feet of the freeway right-of-way and six hundred (600) feet of the intersecting street right-ofway.” Id. § 17.60.110(C). The Director of Planning must also make specific findings regarding the proposed height in relation to the freeway elevation, the number and spacing of signs in the area, and the sign’s height, design, and location in relation to its proposed use. Id. Finally, the Old Ordinance required all signs to be “compatible with the style or character of existing improvements upon lots adjacent to the site,” including incorporating specific visual elements such as type of construction materials, color, or other design detail. Id. § 17.60.200. [9] We hold that these restrictions sufficiently cabined the Director of Planning’s discretion by providing “adequate standards to guide the official’s decision.” The prohibition on off14410 OUTDOOR MEDIA GROUP v. CITY OF BEAUMONT site signs requires only that the Director of Planning determine whether the proposed sign’s content is related to its site. The definition of “off-site” is sufficiently clear to guide this discretion, particularly when coupled with the additional restrictions governing freeway-facing signs. In any case, the off-site/on-site distinction is well-canvassed in our prior case law. See Outdoor Sys., Inc. v. City of Mesa, 997 F.2d 604, 613 (9th Cir. 1993) (judicial precedent constitutes “narrow, objective, and definite standards” cabining official discretion). The Director’s discretion is not unlimited, but cabined by specific findings regarding the relationship of the sign to the site, the freeway, and other signs in the area. The compatibility requirement delineates fairly specific criteria regarding the relationship between the sign and the site. See G.K. Ltd. Travel, 436 F.3d at 1083.7 Although the design review criteria are “somewhat elastic and require reasonable discretion to be exercised by the permitting authority, this alone does not make the Sign Code an unconstitutional prior restraint.” Id. at 1084; see also Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 794 (1989) (“While these standards are undoubtedly flexible, and the officials implementing them will exercise considerable discretion, perfect clarity and precise guidance have never been required even of regulations that restrict expressive activity.”). 2. First Amendment: Regulation of Commercial Speech [10] Outdoor Media claims that the Old Ordinance impermissibly regulated commercial speech without stating a substantial governmental interest, and that the regulations were not narrowly tailored to those interests. Beaumont cited 7 The Planning Director’s discretion was further cabined by provisions explicitly permitting administrative and judicial review of his decision. See Old Ordinance §§ 17.60.020(H), 17.60.300(D)(6); see also Get Outdoors II v. City of San Diego, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. 2007) (emphasizing appeals process as limit on officials’ discretion); Southworth v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. of Wisconsin Sys., 307 F.3d 566, 588 (7th Cir. 2002) (same). OUTDOOR MEDIA GROUP v. CITY OF BEAUMONT 14411 among its legislative purposes a desire to preserve the city’s aesthetics from “overhead clutter” and to “preclude potential traffic and safety hazards through good signing.” Old Ordinance § 17.60.005. As a regulation of commercial speech, both the Supreme Court and our circuit have endorsed these rationales as substantial governmental interests. See Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 508-09; Ackerley Commc’ns, 108 F.3d at 1097-1100.8 Moreover, a complete ban on off-site commercial billboards does not reach further than necessary to achieve that goal. Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 508; Outdoor Media Sys., 997 F.2d at 610-11. We therefore conclude that the Old Ordinance’s regulation of billboards was not an unconstitutional regulation of commercial speech and affirm the dismissal of this claim. 3. First Amendment: Regulation of Noncommercial Speech [11] Although Metromedia allows a city to completely ban off-site commercial billboards, it does not necessarily follow that the city may treat noncommercial speech in a like fashion. “The fact that the city may value commercial messages relating to on-site goods and services more than it values commercial communications relating to off-site goods and services does not justify prohibiting an occupant from displaying its own ideas or those of others.” Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 513. Applying this holding, we have explained that “an ordinance is invalid if it imposes greater restrictions on 8 Outdoor Media’s complaint faults the city for failing to conduct studies showing that off-site signs have an adverse effect upon the city’s aesthetics or safety. In the context of regulating commercial speech, our case law does not require any such analysis. See Ackerley, 108 F.3d at 1099-1100 (“As a matter of law Seattle’s ordinance, enacted to further the city’s interest in aesthetics and safety, is a constitutional restriction on commercial speech without detailed proof that the billboard regulation will in fact advance the city’s interests.”); see also Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 509-10 (deferring to legislative judgments that billboards are traffic hazards and a ban promotes the city’s aesthetic interests). 14412 OUTDOOR MEDIA GROUP v. CITY OF BEAUMONT noncommercial than on commercial billboards or regulates noncommercial billboards based on their content.” Nat’l Advertising Co. v. City of Orange, 861 F.2d 246, 248 (9th Cir. 1988) (citing Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 513, 516).9 [12] Here, the Old Ordinance’s off-site ban prohibits signs that “advertise[ ] or inform[ ] in any manner businesses, services, goods, persons, or events at some location other than that upon which the sign is located.” Old Ordinance § 17.60.010. This broad prohibition seems to reach beyond off-site commercial copy to preclude the posting of many noncommercial messages, if those messages are not related to the site upon which the sign is located. See Desert Outdoor Adv., Inc. v. City of Moreno Valley, 103 F.3d 814, 820 (9th Cir. 1996). For example, a business owner may erect a sign advertising a sale at his store, but may not erect an identical sign that instead informs of an event at his local church. As noted above, the New Ordinance solves this problem by explicitly limiting the off-site ban to commercial copy and including a message substitution clause that allows noncommercial copy to replace legal commercial copy. But the Old Ordinance lacks these safeguards. The City may have intended the old off-site ban to reach only commercial speech, but the ordinance’s broad language goes further. “Insofar as the city tolerates billboards at all . . . it may not conclude that the communication of commercial information concerning goods and services connected with a particular site is of greater value than the communication of noncommercial mes- 9 Contrary to the dissent, we find that content may well have played a role in the denial of the permits. The City’s Director of Planning recommended that the permits be denied because the signs “would result in excessive, undue and adverse visual intrusion . . . by adding unrelated advertising to a future new commercial facility” (emphasis added). Because the term “advertising” is ambiguous and may include both commercial and noncommercial messages, Outdoor Media has standing to challenge the code as imposing too high a burden on noncommercial speech. OUTDOOR MEDIA GROUP v. CITY OF BEAUMONT 14413 sages.” Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 513, see also Desert Outdoor Adv., 103 F.3d at 820. [13] We also note that the Old Ordinance may also have impermissibly regulated noncommercial speech on the basis of content, by exempting certain noncommercial off-site signs from the permit requirement. For example, political signs relating to candidates or issues may be erected without a permit, subject to certain time and size restrictions. Old Ordinance § 17.60.025(A)(15). Certain directional and informational signs are also exempt. Id. § 17.60.025(A)(11). “Because the exemptions require City officials to examine the content of noncommercial . . . signs to determine whether the exemption applies, the City’s regulation of noncommercial speech is content-based.” Desert Outdoor Adv., 103 F.3d at 820. Such restrictions are unconstitutional “unless the City establishes that the ordinance is necessary to serve a compelling state interest and that it is narrowly drawn to achieve that end.” Id. (quoting Nat’l Adv. Co., 861 F.3d at 249). [14] This case is before us on a motion to dismiss. The record is therefore not yet developed regarding the constitutionality of these restrictions. In addition, we reiterate that only Outdoor Media’s damages claims survive the repeal of the Old Ordinance, and “we cannot say whether this facial infirmity should enable [the plaintiff] to recover damages, as the record is inadequate at present to determine whether this infirmity was the cause of [the plaintiff’s] harm.” Coral Const. Co. v. King County, 941 F.2d 910, 927 (9th Cir. 1991). At this juncture, it is enough to recognize that Outdoor Media has sufficiently stated a claim that the Old Ordinance is facially unconstitutional and has alleged damages stemming from application of that ordinance. We therefore reverse the dismissal of this claim. 4. First Amendment: Overbreadth [15] Outdoor Media also claims, without explanation, that the Old Ordinance is overbroad. We affirm dismissal of this 14414 OUTDOOR MEDIA GROUP v. CITY OF BEAUMONT claim because the plaintiff is limited to damages, which are unavailable for an overbreadth challenge. An overbreadth claim is essentially a claim that a statute may be constitutional as applied to the plaintiff but sweeps so broad as to unconstitutionally suppress the speech of others not before the court. See Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U.S. at 798. This theory presupposes that the ordinance is constitutional as applied to the plaintiff. “On an overbreadth challenge [plaintiff] would also be barred from collecting § 1983 damages which are available only for violations of a party’s own constitutional rights.” Advantage Media, L.L.C. v. City of Eden Prairie, 456 F.3d 793, 801 (8th Cir. 2006). 5. Equal Protection Clause [16] Finally, Outdoor Media claims that the Old Ordinance violates the Equal Protection clause. Because billboard operators are not a protected class, the city’s distinction between off-site and on-site advertisers is sustained if rationally related to a legitimate government interest. Kahawaiolaa v. Norton, 386 F.3d 1271, 1277-78 (9th Cir. 2004). Metromedia found this distinction met the more stringent Central Hudson test, because “offsite advertising, with its periodically changing content, presents a more acute problem than does on-site advertising.” Metromedia, 453 U.S. at 511 (plurality opinion); see also Clear Channel, 340 F.3d at 813-14, 816. This rationale also satisfies the lower hurdle of rational basis review. See generally Railway Express Agency v. New York, 336 U.S. 106, 109 (1949). We therefore affirm the dismissal of this claim as well.