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Ordinance
Preparation and Enactment–Effective
and enforceable ordinances are essential to the legitimate
regulation of signs and sexually oriented businesses (“SOBs”).
Such a process involves substantiating the legitimate
governmental interests sought to be protected and advanced by
the proposed regulations and preparing an ordinance that
reflects the very latest legal developments in this rapidly
changing environment. Because such ordinances potentially
impact first amendment protected rights and are prone to
vigorous legal challenges, great care must be taken to properly
craft and enact such ordinances. The attorneys at Fee &
Jeffries have assisted a variety of local governments in
crafting and enacting both sign and SOBs ordinances, none of
which have been struck down or otherwise invalidated.
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Litigation—Without
enforcement, even the best-crafted and enacted ordinance is
rendered meaningless. Often, parties adversely affected by an
ordinance will initiate legal proceedings to have it declared
invalid. Other times, such parties simply ignore the ordinance
and local governments need to seek enforcement through legal
proceedings. It is a rare case where enforcement of an
ordinance is not met with a counterclaim to have the ordinance
declared invalid or unenforceable. Whether a local government
is defending a challenge to its ordinance or seeking
enforcement, experienced and knowledgeable litigation counsel is
a necessity, not a luxury. Our attorneys, led by Rick Fee, have
represented local governments in literally dozens of such cases,
in both state and federal courts. Moreover, Rick Fee has served
as lead appellate counsel on numerous occasions, preparing the
briefs and presenting oral argument in our state and federal
appellate courts.
