sign ordinance

i have a small business in the state of north carolia which
we bought from the previous owners. the sign that came with the business was covered under the renovation permit. the sign had been standing for 10 years and was approved by the city building inspector. now the town has enacted a new sign ordinance and my sign is not "permitted". they have
threatened me with fines and or imprisionment. i have
appealed this in front of the town board even had the building inspector speak on my behalf.. they made me take it down as i could not afford to pay the $2,000 or so fine. do i have a case and what type of law or matter does this come under l.martin

Based on your post, I would say that you do NOT have a case.

The city passed a new sign ordinance that prohibited your signage. Unless this ordinance had some type of 'grandfather clause', your sign goes down.

The only basis for possible litigation would be if you felt that the city violated the law ("open meetings", number of readings, etc.), or was possibly discriminatory in their passage of the ordinance. And even with that, most states exempt their governmental agencies from any liability that arises as a result of their official function.

Your only options, as I see them, are to try to get an injunction to prevent the law from going into affect (if you have a valid reason), or to lobby the existing city council to amend the law, or to run for office.