Political banner on silo OK by city code

Despite concern expressed by some residents, the massive sign endorsing Moscow City Council candidates Kelsey Berends, Brandon Mitchell and James Urquidez draped across a Jackson Street grain silo in Moscow adheres to the city code, Moscow Community Development Director Bill Belknap said Wednesday.

Even if the code deemed the sign too large, Belknap said the city is not enforcing that section of the code because of a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

City code states a maximum of 32 square feet of total area per political campaign sign is allowed on private property in the Commercial Zoning District, where the grain silos are located. However, the code says a political sign “exceeding 32 square feet of total area shall comply with regulations applicable to the respective Commercial Zoning District in this Sign Code.”

The sign is defined as a wall sign in the city code, which states “the total area of wall signs on a building wall shall not exceed three square feet times the length in feet of the wall, each wall calculated separately.”

The rectangular sign, which says it is paid for by Berends, Mitchell and Urquidez for City Council, is roughly 16 feet tall and 30 feet wide, or 480 square feet. The silo is a cylinder with a circumference estimated at 190 feet. That circumference times 3 square feet would allow for a sign of about 570 square feet on the surface.

Emsi CEO Andrew Crapuchettes purchased the silos property two years ago and declined to comment for the story.

Belknap said in light of the recent Supreme Court case decision, the city attorney recommends not enforcing the maximum allowable size limits in the city code.

The ruling, Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Ariz., deemed municipalities cannot treat signs differently based upon their message, so limiting the size of a political sign violates that court decision, Belknap said.

He said it is rare that an implication of a U.S. Supreme Court case resonates throughout land use regulations. Occasionally, an Idaho Supreme Court decision requires change in local codes.

Belknap said the Moscow Planning and Zoning Commission is working to amend the city’s sign code so it adheres to the Supreme Court ruling. The city council would need to adopt the amendment before it becomes law.

“It has to be content-neutral,” Belknap said of the proposed amendment. “That is, it has to treat all signs equally regardless of the content, regardless of the purpose.”

Belknap said the city has the right to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court ruling but he said he does not believe it would be successful in District Court or state court.

“This is very tightly aligned to First Amendment freedom of speech allowances underneath the Constitution, and political speech is so close to that, that it is something the city would be very careful in administering something that may conflict with that court ruling,” Belknap said.

Some residents have also voiced questions about distributed fliers endorsing the three candidates. The fliers, which have the same appearance as the sign, state they are paid for by the Latah County Republican Central Committee. The Moscow City Council race is a nonpartisan election.

Brad Rudley, Latah County chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney, said he could not find any law that would prohibit the Republican committee from funding a candidate for city council or that would prohibit printing supporting materials. For campaign finance reporting, the committee would be limited to spending $1,000 and would need to report those as campaign contributions per Idaho code.

Rudley said the Idaho Secretary of State’s office confirmed that there is no law prohibiting a political party from making a contribution to a candidate of a nonpartisan office as long as it was reported by the party.

The election is Tuesday.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.