Billboard ban challenged in high court

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2002 | 9:33 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An attorney for an outdoor advertising company urged the Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday to invalidate a popular vote in Reno that bans future billboards.

John Frankovich, representing Eller Media Co., said decisions on billboards were an administrative matter for city officials and could not be handled in an initiative petition. But Chris Wicker, representing Citizens for Scenic Reno, disagreed, saying the voters set policy for the city, which was within their power.

Eller Media, formerly DR Partners, a Nevada general partnership doing business as Donrey Outdoor Advertising, had sued after citizens gathered signatures qualifying the initiative petition for the ballot.

Eller sought to keep the issue off the election ballot, arguing the petition was not properly certified that the voters had no authority to decide administrative matters. District Judge Jerry Polaha ruled against Eller, which appealed to the Supreme Court.

Frankovich said the Supreme Court has ruled twice recently that voters had no right to put questions on the ballot -- one involving the proposed train trench in Reno and the other protecting a park site in Carson City. Those issues were kept off the ballot.

The court called those cases administrative matters, which jurisdiction was given to the cities by the Legislature. Frankovich suggested those two decisions should be followed.

But Wicker argued: "This is a policy statement by the citizens of Reno that there are to be no new billboards in the city of Reno. What we have with this initiative is a true policy decision."

In briefs filed prior to the oral arguments, Frankovich said land use decisions must abide by procedural safeguards.

Wicker said in his brief that the initiative was not "an administrative decision relating to how and where a particular activity must be conducted or a particular type of building may be constructed."

Wicker said, "Frustrated citizens, concerned that new billboards were going to sprout like weeds and that the Reno City Council would not prevent it, used their constitutional right of initiative, which allowed the voters to set policy for the city."

The court took the arguments under submission and will rule later.