Can a city or county enforce an ordinance that makes all uninvited commercial solicitation a public nuisance?
Ordinances that broadly prohibit door-to-door soliciting, sometimes called “Green River” ordinances (after a city in Colorado whose anti-soliciting ordinance had been challenged and upheld), were at one time very common. However, more recent court decisions have raised doubts as to whether such ordinances would be similarly upheld today. A federal court decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a city ordinance that prohibited door-to-door solicitation unless the homeowner placed a “solicitor’s welcome” sign on their door was an unconstitutional infringement of free speech rights. The court held that the ordinance did not provide the least restrictive alternative available to accomplish the legitimate governmental interests of protecting residential privacy and preventing crime. Some jurisdictions still have these types of broad prohibitions in their ordinances and may therefore be subject to similar court challenges. This does not mean that cities and counties cannot
Related Questions
- With a unified ordinance, will both the City Council and the County Commission be making decisions on all zoning-related matters?
- Can a city or county enforce an ordinance that makes all uninvited commercial solicitation a public nuisance?
- What city or county department oversees new commercial and residential construction?
