It’s less an exception to the rule as much as it’s a decision of what constitutes a sign.

It mentions in the article that the town allows murals but takes exception to the fact that the mural depicts baked goods. One can gather from the basis of the suit that there is nothing in the letter of the law about mural content so they should not be able to say that that is not a mural based on subject matter.

As far as small town politics is concerned, one board member absolutely can control the whole board. Think of a typical friend group and how often everyone falls in step behind the strongest most popular personality. Small town politics is typically the same way. There’s always certain individuals one doesn’t want to cross or they get iced out.

Small town politics is also strongly influenced by personal feelings. Everyone knows everyone and everything about each other. It’s always possible that there’s some bad blood involved. Long standing personal dislikes or slighted feelings making someone want to make life difficult for the owner. Total speculation but often when one an established business sells there were more interested parties than just the one who gets the place. That can lead to anger at the person who “won” and petty actions against them.