State ex rel. Morton v. Rapp

Citations

• 16 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 1

Syllabus

<p>Bill-Board Ordinances — Proper Test for Determining Their Validity— Protection of the Rights of Property Owners — Police Requirements Which Are Reasonable and Valid — Requirements Which Are Founded on Aesthetic Ideas Not Fnforcible.</p> <p>1. The proper test as to the validity of a bill-hoard ordinance, or the extent to which such an ordinance is valid, is found in the fundamental principle that private property must ever be held inviolate, except in so far as it may be subject to the police power exercised for the health, morals and safety of the community.</p> <p>2. It is a reasonable exercise of the police power to provide by ordinance with reference to bill-boards; that there shall be an open space of six feet between each bill-board and any adjoining structure or lot line; that there shall be an open space of at least two feet between any two bill-boards; and that no bill-hoard shall exceed five hundred square feet in area.</p> <p>3. But it is not a reasonable exercise of the police power to provide that no bill-board shall be nearer to the lot line or any street than the house adjoining the same; or that in no case shall any billboard be less than fifteen feet from the street line or that no such sign or bill-board shall be erected facing any public park, square, municipal, county or federal building unless a special permit shall have first been issued by the director of public service.</p> <p>4. While an ordinance -relating to bill-boards is without retroactive effect, the building commissioner, in ordering that a board which has been erected within the street line shall be removed, may require that if the board is re-erected within the lot line, the work must be done in such a manner as to conform to valid ordinances in force at the time of its re-erection.</p>