Lawsuits bad sign for Whitefish

Equal protection.

Those two words have to be ringing in Whitefish city officials' ears right about now. For the second time in as many years, a lawsuit filed against the city is focused on fairness and how the city administers its laws, evoking the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment.

This time around Whitefish's administration of the city's sign law has been called into question. The city on Tuesday took down a billboard at the Greenwood Trailer Court site after a federal court ruling denied sign owner In Sight Advertising a preliminary injunction to keep it in place.

The city of Whitefish won its case against Montana Media several years ago when the state Supreme Court upheld the city's sign law and the company was forced to tear down two off-premise billboards. Whitefish sign laws don't allow off-premise signs, no matter how big or small.

But it's not the sign law that In Sight is taking issue with in its lawsuit against the city of Whitefish. It's about how the city is administering the law across the board. While the city has focused its efforts on In Sight's sign, two billboards in Whitefish along U.S. 93 remain standing, largely because city officials know it will take a huge amount of time and money to fight the large corporations that own them.

Whitefish City Attorney John Phelps admitted as much during a hearing with Insight before the zoning administrator.

Meanwhile, In Sight lawyer Chad Wold maintains the city has been going after small businesses to have off-premise signs removed. That doesn't seem fair. A federal jury eventually will get to weigh in on this one.

Equal protection also came into play when a Flathead District Court jury decided earlier this summer that a Whitefish couple's right to equal protection of the law had been violated because they were denied a "reasonable use" exemption to build a home on a slope in excess of 30 percent, even though a city official had OK'd exemptions for a dozen lots in a Whitefish subdivision with similar slope concerns.

The slope issue remains a hot-button issue as Whitefish considers the final version of a law for drainage-challenged areas.

It's reasonable for a city to put in place laws governing the use of signs and how construction should be handled in areas with drainage problems. That's good government.

But it's also reasonable to expect those laws to be applied to all people or businesses, regardless of who is involved or how much money they have. Like our forefathers, we should expect nothing less than equal protection for all.