A Billboard Insider reader recently asked the following about Stop Work Orders:
What do you do when you are issued a “Stop Work Order” by the local zoning department? Do you stop building the billboard even though you have the approval to build? If so, what are the legal hoops that need to be jumped through by the billboard company to stay legally compliant?
Even if you’ve received the permit or other approval, I recommend upon receipt of the Stop Work Order from the Zoning, Sign, or Building Department that you stop work. Right or wrong, the City may be contending that additional permission or interpretations are required. The way to challenge the City’s position is to promptly appeal. Typically, the City’s Code has a deadline for appealing the Order to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, General Appeals Board, or other administrative venue. Houston Sign Code Section 4604, for example, requires appeals of these types of orders or other adverse decisions of the Sign Administrator to be filed the General Appeals Board within 10 days.
The administrative appellate hearing may not be scheduled for a month or so. In the meantime, the operator may be suffering expensive construction delays and lost profits; so, he also should contact the City inspector or administrator ASAP to determine the complaint and how to resolve it informally.
In more extraordinary circumstances, where the appeal hearing is unduly delayed and/or the construction losses especially unacceptable, the operator may want to file a civil lawsuit against the City. More than likely, however, such a lawsuit would be subject to dismissal, as most State laws require the operator to exhaust his administrative remedies and venues before resorting to such litigation.
There certainly are incidences where it is “better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” It’s rare, however, that an operator will be successful in ignoring a Stop Work Order, and instead, continue with the construction or other project unabated. This behavior will likely be considered cavalier and indeed illegal by the City, which would probably raise the stakes by causing police intervention or license suspension. And, last but certainly not least, get a lawyer involved in helping to navigate this minefield.
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