It’s fair to think your First Amendment rights are the same as those of the political majority in Brunswick County, correct? Not so fast, based on our recent experience with Brunswick County’s Code Administration Department.
This summer, the Brunswick County Democratic Party (BCDP) agreed with a local property owner to erect a wooden frame on his land with campaign signage. The frame, built by BCDP volunteers and standing around ten feet tall, was 100% compliant with the county’s “Do I need a permit?” webpage.
The first signs placed on the frame touted Biden-Harris. Within 24 hours, vandals spray-painted them. BCDP left them in place. A week later, the vandalized placards were stolen.
BCDP put up two more Biden-Harris signs, adding hidden and visible cameras to deter vandals. Shortly thereafter, the county’s Code Administration Department slapped a red “Stop Work” order building violation on the signs. It included the declaration, “Removal of this notice by any person other than the Brunswick County Building Inspections Department is PROHIBITED.”
The property owner and a BCDP member visited the Code Administration office to learn what regulation had been violated. Office personnel could not produce one, but said they “thought” there was a six-foot sign height limitation, with taller ones requiring a permit. When asked why the height limit was not applied to the thousands of other local signs, they had no explanation. Instead, office staff suggested contacting John Williams, who had posted the “Stop Work” order.
But being unable to produce the elusive regulation didn’t stop the county from charging the property owner $200 in permitting fees and fines, asking for an “engineering drawing” of the frame design, and promising to inspect the structure “next week” before issuing the permit.
The property owner waited for over a month. Finally, BCDP called Williams.
Although he had placed the “Stop Work” order, Williams said he was also unaware of the specific residential code that applied to our frame and was simply told to post the order. He suggested contacting John Hyman, the Deputy Director of Building Inspections, for clarification.
By now Kamala Harris had replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, and Democrats around the county wanted the outdated signs replaced. But the “Stop Work” order remained. Slow-walking the process sure seemed at play.
Upon being contacted, Hyman immediately became defensive, saying the “Stop Work” order was not political. When asked to produce the building code in question, Hyman stated he “thought” it was in the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), but he was going on vacation, and we should contact Michael Slate, the Director of Code Administration.
Meanwhile, a BCDP review of the hundreds of pages in the UDO produced no six-foot sign regulation.
BCDP, eager to comply with any codified sign requirements, contacted Slate next, and asked why our sign was singled out with the “Stop Work” order, given the many other local signs exceeding six feet in height. He defensively said it “wasn’t political.” He bemoaned all the signs around the county in violation of the phantom code and said he specifically needed to write some letters to builders and developers about their signage. He stated his department doesn’t have the staff to attend to every sign in violation; rather, it is “complaint-driven.”
Slate then admitted HE originated the complaint about the Biden-Harris signs! Further, he implied he had not taken enforcement action against any other sign except for the one touting Democratic candidates. But at least builders and developers were in for some strongly worded letters.
Asked where the still phantom ordinance could be found, our county’s Director of Code Administration said he “thought” it was a state building code law.
At this point, BCDP decided to get legal representation to combat this blatant, selective enforcement of a yet-unproduced regulation in violation of our, and the property owner’s, First Amendment rights. BCDP produced photos of GOP political signs exceeding six feet, some many years old, some recently erected — none with code violations posted on them.
Once Brunswick County’s Attorney received our lawyer’s written complaint, the county offered to remove the “Stop Work” order edict, allow the wooden frame and any placards to remain up, and refund the property owner's $200 — as long as he agreed to take down the placards and frame within 30 days after the election.
BCDP countered, through our attorney, saying we saw no reason to agree to remove the frame. There are countless old and new signs, Republican and non-political, that are not subject to the selective enforcement action ours received.
The County backed down—perhaps realizing the obvious First Amendment issues arising from enforcing the Code requirements, whatever they are, only against a sign promoting Democratic candidates. However, to date, the property owner has not received a refund, a permit, or a much-deserved apology for the lengthy muzzling of his First Amendment rights.
“We have learned the Brunswick County Code Administration has many “thoughts” about what constitutes a building code violation,” said BCDP Chair Shelley Allen. “’Thoughts’ that did not hold up when challenged by a seasoned lawyer; ‘thoughts’ that resulted in our Constitutional rights being suspended for two months — while we watched signs for GOP candidates, exceeding six feet, go up around the county, unchallenged.”
“Here is our thought,” Allen continued. “Are First Amendment rights truly sacred in Brunswick County, or are they dependent on party affiliation?”
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