It is going to be virtually a legal argument. I don't see where you are going to need any evidentiary material presented to the Court. I think you are going to have to have the Ordinance, and it is going to be a matter of legal arguments.
to promote the health, safety, convenience, and general welfare of the citizens of the city (of Albuquerque). (T)o help control congestion in the streets and public ways; to control and abate the unsightly use of buildings or land; * * * and to enhance the appearance of the landscape.
“Not only is the preservation of the attractive characteristics of a community a proper element of the general welfare, but also the preservation of property values is a legitimate consideration * * *.”
The concept of the public welfare is broad and inclusive. (Citation omitted.) The values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as well as monetary. *144 **571 It is within the power of the legislature to determine that the community should be beautiful as well as healthy, spacious as well as clean, well-balanced as well as carefully patrolled.
No municipal, county or local zoning authority or any other political subdivision of the state shall remove or cause to be removed any lawfully erected and maintained advertising structure without paying just compensation.
The Zoning Enforcement Officer shall order the removal of any sign or violating portion thereof which is erected or maintained in violation of this ordinance. Ten days notice in writing shall be given to the owner of such sign, or of the structure or premises on which such sign is located, to remove the sign or to bring it into compliance with this ordinance. Upon failure to remove the sign or to comply with this notice, the Zoning Enforcement Officer shall have the sign removed. Any cost of removal incurred by the City shall be assessed to the owner of the property on which such sign is located and may be collected in the manner of ordinary debt or in the manner of taxes, and such charge shall be a lien on the property. (Emphasis added.)
No person shall be * * * deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.
The general rule at least, is that while property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking * * *. We are in danger of forgetting that a strong public desire to improve the public condition is not enough to warrant achieving the desire by a shorter cut than the constitutional way of paying for the damage.
No municipal, county or local zoning authority or any other political subdivision of the state shall remove or cause to be removed any lawfully erected and maintained advertising structure without paying just compensation. As used in this act, ‘advertising structure’ means and includes any outdoor sign, display, figure, painting, poster, billboard or similar thing designed, intended or used to advertise or inform the public of goods or services sold either on or off the premises where the advertising structure is located.
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