A city can’t use the building permit process to force a billboard down without paying just compensation.  That’s the lesson of Lamar v Clinton Township.  Here are the facts.

• Lamar Advertising owned a non-conforming billboard in Clinton Township, Michigan on land leased from Paul Turkal.  The billboard lease had a 1996 expiry.
• In 1994 Turkal asked Clinton Township for a variance to develop a parking lot on the property.  Clinton Township granted the variance but imposed an unrelated condition that the billboard on the property must be removed when the existing lease expired.  Under the variance, Turkal obtained a building permit.
• In 1996 Turkal renewed the billboard lease.
• In April 1998 Clinton Township revoked the building permit because the billboard wasn’t removed.  Turkal sued Clinton.  The lawsuit was settled by a consent judgement that allowed Turkal to proceed with construction but required the billboard to be removed within 60 days of the lease expiry in April 2001.
• In June 2001 Clinton Township sent Turkal a letter threatening to remove the billboard itself if Turkal did not remove the billboard within 30 days.  No compensation was offered to Lamar.
• In August 2001 Lamar filed a complaint against Clinton Township alleging that the variance removal condition without just compensation violated the state of Michigan laws.
• In 2003 the US District Court of Michigan agreed with Lamar and permanently enjoined Clinton Township from removing the billboard “unless and until Lamar is paid just compensation”.  The court stated that limiting just compensation just to direct removal of a billboard by a municipality was incorrect and that Michigan law required just compensation must if a municipality requires or causes the removal of a sign.  The requirement that the landlord take down a billboard on the property in exchange for approval of a variance to build a parking lot on another portion of the property caused the removal of the sign.

Insider’s take:  Don’t be shy about asserting your just compensation rights when a city tries to use the building permit process to force you to remove a billboard without just compensation.

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