Printed legal notices are effective because of their permanence

Fighting to preserve public notice laws, and their enforcement, will be a constant struggle. In my view, they are becoming more important as the world moves into one where AI can generate any online creation in a matter of seconds.”

Dan Curry, MPA Hotline Attorney

Failure to publish proper notices in our newspapers has real-word consequences. I am sometimes asked what happens when a city fails to run a required notice before making a decision – and the answer I give is that it depends on whether there’s a party interested in challenging the action. Recently this spring, the Missouri Court of Appeals gave us a real world example.

A property owner, Arch Energy, L.C., had been assembling parcels to potentially expand a convenience store and gas station in the City of Brentwood. However, after a new director of planning and development was named in 2021, things changed. The director proposed rezoning the area to not permit gas stations. The new zoning ordinance was eventually adopted in early 2022 at a meeting of the Board of Alderman. At that point, as the Court of Appeals put it, Arch Energy’s “plans began to unravel.”  

Missouri’s Zoning Enabling Act is contained in RSMo Sections 89.010 through 89.140, and it is “the sole source of power and measure of authority for cities, towns and villages in zoning matters,” the court wrote. The law requires that, prior to any zoning regulation taking effect, a public hearing must be made. Notice of the hearing must be published “in an official paper or a paper of general circulation in such municipality” at least 15 days in advance.

The City of Brentwood did not publish notice in the newspaper prior to the meeting where a public hearing was to be held. Instead, it mailed notice of the meeting to its citizens.

Arch Energy seized on this and filed suit to ask a court to declare the city failed to follow the correct process of publishing notice in the newspaper. The trial court ruled against the company and for the city, but on appeal, the Court of Appeals sided with Arch Energy. The analysis was fairly straight forward: Because the City of Brentwood “failed to publish the statutorily required notice of a public hearing on Ordinance 5008, the ordinance ‘is invalid and cannot be enforced.’”

If you care to read more, the case is Arch Energy, L.C., v. City of Brentwood, Case No. Ed112714 (Mo.App.E.D. March 18, 2025). It might be a good example for you to use to remind reluctant officials of the importance of following the publication laws.

One thing to note though. Even though Arch Energy prevailed in the Court of Appeals – it actually first lost in the trial court. Fighting to preserve public notice laws, and their enforcement, will be a constant struggle. In my view, they are becoming more important as the world moves into one where AI can generate any online creation in a matter of seconds. Public notice in a newspaper preserves a much hardier record that can stand up in court.