Goldwater Institute Challenges AZ Sign Code

On Aug. 15, 2016, the Goldwater Institute (Phoenix, AZ), a conservative and libertarian public policy think tank, filed a complaint in federal court against the city of Chandler. The lawsuit seeks to permanently prevent the city from enforcing specific sections of its sign code which the complaint alleges “violate plaintiffs’ state and federal constitutional rights to Freedom of Speech, Due Process of Law and the Equal Protection of the Laws.”

Goldwater is representing five businesses in this case, including three shopping centers which are owned by the same management firm. The dispute arose in January 2016, when Chandler authorities notified the property owners that their temporary “for lease” signs posted adjacent to the highway were too close to the edge of Arizona Avenue, where the city mandates a minimum signage setback distance of 15 ft. The shopping center management disputes this requirement because the easement area where the signs are located technically comprises part of its private property.

Goldwater’s action is a broad-based, legal challenge holding that Chandler’s sign code is “impermissibly vague” and alleging that it “imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint and is unequally and arbitrarily applied.” Referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, the suit asserts that Chandler’s sign code imposes different rules based on signs’ “communicative content.” The lawsuit distinguishes 11 different types of temporary signs defined in Chandler’s regulations, each with its own regulations.