Federal judge to hear billboard law challenge

RENO (AP) - A Nevada federal judge is set to hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging the city of Reno's billboard law.

The lawsuit contends the ordinance is unconstitutional because it caps the number of billboards at about 275. A voter-approved initiative set the cap in 2000.

Jeffrey Herson sued the city in June after he was denied a billboard permit. Herson wanted the billboard so he could promote a recall of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Judge Larry R. Hicks set a hearing for Wednesday in Reno's U.S. District Court.

In court papers Herson's attorneys contend the law favors commercial speech because it allows new signs for businesses, but bars new signs along city freeways - known as off-premise signs - for non-commercial purposes.

"It is unconstitutional for Reno to require only some non-commercial speakers to obtain permits, while others have carte blanche to post signs as they please," Reno attorney Frank Gilmore, who represents Herson, wrote in court papers. "This fundamental flaw in Reno's permitting process dooms the entire sign ordinance."

City attorneys say the rules only regulate the physical nature of the signs, not the message. They contend Herson could ask a business owner to post a non-commercial message and that there is no special treatment for commercial speech over another.

"Since voters approved the initiative, it is consistent that the voters intended to regulate structure, not messages," the city argues in its own court filings. "In addition, the language of the initiative refers to construct. Structures, not messages, are constructed."

In June, city attorneys recommended the City Council approve a moratorium on any billboard relocations until at least October.

Last week, the city planning commission also passed a series of amendments clarifying that off-premise billboards are regulated by structure, not content. The changes were recommended by city attorneys.

Herson has previously filed lawsuits challenging city billboard ordinances in the Bay Area, including a similar case in San Carlos, Calif., that resulted in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in May upholding the city's billboard restrictions. He said he's spent 25 years in the billboard industry and that his father, Alan Herson, is an attorney who has fought billboard laws in Oregon.