Thank you for that information, Tim! It took a while for me to work through it, but I think I have the gist of it…
In the 2009 court case, Englewood's special review procedure was deemed unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it did not contain the following two essential procedural safeguards to ensure expeditious decision-making by the city manager:
(1) any restraint prior to judicial review can be imposed only for a specified brief period during which the status quo must be maintained;
(2) expeditious judicial review of that decision must be available.
Englewood has now revised their code to comply, and murals are still allowed.
Does that sound like a close interpretation? J
Thanks again!
Amanda Still
Arts and Culture Coordinator
City of Georgetown
512-930-8471
Hi Amanda,
I work closely with the City of Englewood in Colorado. In 2009 the city brought suit to a local business owner for the mural on his building. He contacted the ACLU who represented him in court and won the case under freedom of speech.
I’m attaching the current mural policy language that’s within the sign code and a link to the court case and an article that was in a local paper.
I hope this information is helpful!
Tim Vacca
Director of Programs
MOA
1000 Englewood Parkway Suite 2-230
Englewood, CO 80110
303-806-0444 Main
303-353-1712 Direct
www.moaonline.org To unsubscribe from this list please go to http://archives.simplelists.com
Hello, Public Art Network,
Our City is getting several requests from businesses to paint murals on their buildings, and we are fortunate to have the support of our City Arts and Culture Board as well as the City Planning and Permitting Dept. However, our legal department does not want to allow businesses to paint murals on their property because of some recent court cases involving freedom of speech. Legal does not want the City to be in a position where we would be regulating freedom of speech through artwork approval, so Legal is categorizing all murals as signage. And, of course, a mural does not follow our City’s design guidelines for signage, so they are not approved. Does this sound like a familiar situation to anyone, and if so, how has your City handled the legal and permitting process for privately owned/funded murals?
Thank you so much for your input!
Arts and Culture Coordinator