Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Fayette sign rulings under review

State Supreme Court wants English to revisit case

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com
and JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

A legal battle over Fayette County's sign ordinance just got a little stickier thanks to a ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court.

The court ruled that Fayette Superior Court Judge Paschal English "applied an inappropriate standard for determining constitutionality" when he denied a request from two Fayette residents seeking a temporary injunction from the county's sign ordinance until the lawsuit could be settled in court. The ruling is already causing repercussions in the region. On Tuesday night, the Coweta County Commission slapped a moratorium on all new signs in the county until attorney Mitch Powell determines how the ruling would affect Coweta's ordinance. Coweta's ordinance is similar to Fayette's, so Powell wants to make sure the county's ordinance would not face a similar legal battle.

In its ruling, the court noted that the Georgia constitution provides broader protection than the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution which requires a government to "draw its regulations to suppress no more speech than is necessary to achieve its goals."

Curtis "Bubba" Coffey and Wayne Charles filed the suit in July, challenging the county's position that its sign ordinance allows only one political sign to be erected on a residential parcel. Coffey contends that keeps him from showing his support for multiple candidates at the same time.

He found an ally, at least temporarily, in last week's ruling of the Supreme Court. The court ruled that Superior Court Judge Paschal English should reconsider his ruling for the temporary injunction.

"... It appears that the trial court denied appellants' request for interlocutory injunctive relief solely on the ground that the appellants would be unlikely to prevail on the merits of their claim that the relevant provisions of the ordinance are unconstitutional," Justice Leah Sears wrote in the unanimous opinion for the court.

The Supreme Court wants Judge English to reconsider the request for a temporary injunction "using the correct legal standards," Sears wrote.

The court's opinion noted that English correctly determined that the county "has a significant governmental interest in aesthetics and traffic safety," but failed to take into account other tests such sign ordinances must meet.

Coffey was initially cited for violating the county's sign ordinance after marshals warned him of the violation, county officials previously said.

In addition to limiting non-commercial signs in residential areas, the county's sign ordinance also limits the size of the signs to be no larger than six square feet.

County attorney Bill McNally and representatives from his office said they could not comment on the case because of its pending litigation status. A hearing date has not been scheduled yet by Judge English.