Current StatusView additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.Bill Number: 3768 Ratification Number: 631 Act Number 519 Introducing Body: House Subject: Advertising requirements revised
(A519, R631, H3768)
AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLES 1 AND 3, CHAPTER 25, TITLE 57, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, SO AS TO REVISE THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE HIGHWAY ADVERTISING CONTROL ACT BY PROVIDING FOR DEFINITIONS, AUTHORIZED SIGNS, THE ISSUANCE OF PERMITS, ILLEGAL ADVERTISING DEVICES, SIGNS ON RIGHTS-OF-WAY, REMOVAL OF AND COMPENSATION FOR SIGNS, REGULATION BY OTHER AUTHORITIES, EXPENDITURES FOR REMOVAL, VIOLATIONS, AND PENALTIES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Outdoor advertising requirements revised
SECTION 1. Articles 1 and 3, Chapter 25, Title 57 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 173 of 1987, is further amended to read:
Section 57-25-10. It is unlawful for a person to display, place, or affix a sign, as defined in Section 57-25-120(3), within a right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of the highway. A person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than one hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days.
Section 57-25-110. This article may be cited as the Highway Advertising Control Act'.
Section 57-25-120. As used in this article:
(1) Interstate system' means that portion of the national system of interstate and defense highways located within this State officially designated now or in the future by the South Carolina Department of Highways and Public Transportation and approved by the appropriate office of the United States Government pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, United States Code, Highways'.
(2) Federal-aid primary system' means that portion of connected main highways which officially are designated as the federal-aid primary highway system now or in the future by the Department of Highways and Public Transportation and approved by the appropriate office of the United States Government pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, United States Code, Highways'.
(3) Sign' or 'outdoor advertising sign' means an outdoor sign, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, plaque, poster, billboard, or other thing which is designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform, or any part of the advertising or its informative contents.
(4) An unzoned commercial or industrial area' does not include land established as a scenic area pursuant to Section 57-25-140 (D)(4) or land zoned by a subdivision of government. An unzoned commercial, business, or industrial area means the land occupied by the regularly used building, parking lot, and storage and processing area of a commercial, business, or industrial activity and land within six hundred feet of it on both sides of the highway. The unzoned land does not include:
(a) land on the opposite side of an interstate or freeway primary federal-aid highway;
(b) land predominantly used for residential purposes;
(c) land zoned by state or local law, regulation, or ordinance except land which is zoned in a manner which allows essentially unrestricted development or where regulation of size, spacing, and lighting of signs is unrestricted or less restrictive than the restrictions imposed by Section 57-25-140;
(d) land on the opposite side of a nonfreeway primary highway which is designated scenic by the State Highways and Public Transportation Commission.
(5) Commercial or industrial activities' means those established activities generally recognized as commercial or industrial by zoning authorities within the State, except that none of the following are considered commercial or industrial activities:
(a) outdoor advertising structures;
(b) agriculture, forestry, ranching, grazing, farming, wayside produce stands, quarries, and borrow pits;
(c) activities conducted in a building principally used as a residence;
(d) hospitals, nursing homes, or long-term care facilities;
(e) transient or temporary activities;
(f) activities not visible from the main-traveled way;
(g) activities more than six hundred sixty feet from the nearest edge of the right-of-way of interstate and freeway primary federal-aid highways or more than three hundred feet from the nearest edge of the right-of-way of nonfreeway primary federal-aid highways;
(h) railroad tracks and minor sidings;
(i) sham, prohibited, or illegal activities;
(j) junkyards;
(k) schools, churches, or cemeteries;
(l) recreational facilities.
(6) Freeway primary federal-aid highway' means a divided arterial highway for through traffic with full control of access built to the same standards as to access as an interstate highway, which is officially designated now or in the future as a part of the federal-aid primary system.
Section 57-25-130. The General Assembly finds that outdoor advertising is a legitimate form of commercial use of the private property adjacent to the public highways. The General Assembly also finds that outdoor advertising is an integral part of the business and marketing function and is an established segment of the national economy which serves to promote and protect investments in commerce and industry and is, therefore, a business which must be allowed to exist and operate where other business and commercial activities are conducted and that a reasonable use of property for outdoor advertising to the traveling public is desirable. In order, however, to prevent unreasonable distraction of operators of motor vehicles, prevent confusion with regard to traffic lights, signs, or signals, prevent interference with the effectiveness of traffic regulations, promote the prosperity, economic well-being, and general welfare of the State, promote the safety, convenience, and enjoyment of travel on and protection of the public investment in highways within this State, and preserve and enhance the natural scenic beauty or aesthetic features of the highways and adjacent areas, the General Assembly declares it to be the policy of this State that the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices in areas adjacent to the rights-of-way of the interstate and federal-aid primary systems within this State must be regulated in accordance with the terms of this article which provide for standards consistent with customary use in this State and finds that all outdoor advertising devices which do not conform to the requirements of this article are illegal. It is the intention of the General Assembly in this article to provide a statutory basis for regulation of outdoor advertising consistent with the public policy relating to areas adjacent to interstate and federal-aid primary systems declared by Congress in Title 23, United States Code, Highways'.
Section 57-25-140. (A) An outdoor advertising sign must not be erected or maintained after June 30, 1975, which is visible from the main-traveled way of the interstate or federal-aid primary highways in this State and erected with the purpose of its message being read from the traveled way, except the following:
(1) official signs and notices erected and maintained by the State or local governmental authorities pursuant to laws or ordinances for the purpose of carrying out an official duty or responsibility and historical markers authorized by law and erected by the State, local governmental authorities, or nonprofit historical societies;
(2) public utility warning and informational signs, notices, and markers which customarily are erected and maintained by publicly or privately owned utilities as essential to their operations;
(3) signs and notices of service clubs and religious organizations relating to meetings of nonprofit service clubs, charitable organizations or associations, or religious services;
(4) directional signs containing directional information about public places owned and operated by federal, state, or local governments, public or privately owned natural phenomena, historical, cultural, educational, and religious sites, and areas of natural scenic beauty or naturally suited for outdoor recreation, considered to be in the public interest;
(5) signs advertising the sale or lease of property upon which they are located;
(6) on-premises signs advertising activities conducted on the property upon which they are located, including any signs advertising a business located on property under single ownership on which are located two or more businesses, regardless of leasing arrangements;
(7) signs located in areas which are zoned industrial or commercial under authority of state law;
(8) signs located in unzoned commercial or industrial areas.
(B) Signs are not permitted in any of the above categories which imitate or resemble an official traffic sign, signal, or device, are erected or maintained upon trees, are printed or drawn upon rocks or other natural features, or are in disrepair.
(C) The size of a sign permitted under items (7) and (8) of subsection (A) must not be more than six hundred seventy-two square feet in area, sixty feet in length, or forty-eight feet in height. All dimensions include border and trim but exclude decorative bases and supports. Cutouts and extensions are in addition to this amount but may not increase the height of a sign to more than forty-eight feet and may not increase the size of a sign facing by more than one hundred fifty square feet. No more than two sign panels facing in the same direction may be erected on the same sign structure if the total area of both sign panels does not exceed the maximum. The maximum size limitation applies to each sign facing.
(D) No sign permitted under this section may obscure or otherwise interfere with the effectiveness of an official traffic sign, signal, or device nor obstruct or interfere with the driver's view of approaching, merging, or intersecting traffic. No sign except on premises and FOR SALE or LEASE signs may be located within three hundred feet of any of the following which are adjacent to the highway in areas outside of incorporated municipalities or within one hundred feet on sections inside municipalities:
(1) public parks of ten acres or more;
(2) public forests;
(3) public playgrounds of one-half acre or more;
(4) scenic areas designated by the Highways and Public Transportation Commission or other state agency having and exercising that authority.
(E) No sign structure permitted under items (7) and (8) of subsection (A) on the interstate system or on a federal-aid primary route, constructed to controlled access standards, may be erected within five hundred feet of another sign structure on the same side of the highway. No sign may be located on the interstate system or controlled access federal-aid primary route adjacent to or within five hundred feet of an interchange or a rest area measured along the interstate or controlled access primary highways from the nearest point of the beginning or ending of pavement widening at the exit from or entrance to the main-traveled way. The distance from an interchange or a rest area set forth in this subsection does not apply to sites adjacent to highways that are within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality. No sign structure permitted under items (7) and (8) of subsection (A) on a noncontrolled access federal-aid primary route outside of an incorporated municipality may be erected within three hundred feet of another sign structure on the same side of the highway. No sign structure located adjacent to a noncontrolled access federal-aid primary route may be erected within a distance of one hundred feet of another sign structure inside an incorporated municipality on the same side of the highway. This subsection does not apply to advertising displays which are separated by a building or other obstruction so that only one display located within the minimum spacing distance is visible from any point on the highway at any one time.
(F) No sign permitted under items (7) and (8) of subsection (A) may contain, include, or be illuminated by a flashing, intermittent, or moving light, except those giving public service information such as time, date, temperature, weather, or other similar information. No sign permitted under this section may be erected or maintained which is not shielded effectively so as to prevent beams or rays of light from being directed at a portion of the main-traveled way of an interstate or federal-aid primary route and which is of an intensity or brilliance so as to cause glare or to impair the vision of the driver of a motor vehicle or which otherwise may interfere with a driver's operation of a motor vehicle. No sign may be illuminated so that it interferes with the effectiveness of or obscures an official traffic sign, device, or signal.
(G) The standards contained in this section pertaining to size, shape, description, lighting, and spacing of outdoor advertising signs permitted in zoned and unzoned commercial and industrial areas do not apply to signs lawfully in place on this article's effective date. Signs lawfully in place on November 3, 1971, or erected within six months after that date under a lease dated and recorded before that date are exempted from the standards requirement.
(H) Whenever a bona fide county or local zoning authority has made a determination of customary use, which includes a regulation of size, lighting, and spacing of outdoor advertising signs, in zoned industrial or commercial areas, the determination prevails over the size, lighting, and spacing otherwise provided for the signs in subsections (C) and (E) if all of the following exist:
(1) The standards imposed on size, lighting, and spacing are at least as restrictive as the standards set forth in subsections (C), (D), (E), and (F).
(2) The zoning plan provides for effective enforcement by the zoning authority of the imposed restrictions.
(3) The zoning plan and amendments are submitted to and approved by the Department of Highways and Public Transportation before they prevail over the standards set forth in this section.
Zoning which controls contiguous tracts which comprise less than twenty percent of the land within a political subdivision or land which is zoned primarily to permit outdoor advertising signs is not considered zoning for the purposes of this section.
(I)(1) No person may cut, trim, or otherwise cause to be removed vegetation from within the limits of highway rights-of-way unless permitted to do so by the department. Permits to remove vegetation may be granted only for sign locations which have been permitted at least two years and then only at the sole discretion of the department.
(2) If vegetation is removed from within a highway right-of-way without a permit by the sign owner or his agent and the removal has the effect of enhancing the visibility of the outdoor advertising sign, the sign is illegal and must be removed at the responsible party's expense. Upon a violation of this subsection the responsible party is not eligible for a sign permit:
(a) for one year: first violation;
(b) for five years: second violation;
(c) permanently: third and subsequent violations.
(3) The department must be reimbursed for cleaning or replanting at the site of the illegal cutting by the responsible party. Until the expenses are reimbursed, the responsible party must not be issued a sign permit.
(J) Signs permitted under items (1), (2), (3), and (4) of subsection (A) must comply with the regulations promulgated by the Highways and Public Transportation Commission in accordance with uniform national standards.
Section 57-25-150. (A) The Highways and Public Transportation Commission shall issue permits for the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs coming within the exceptions contained in items (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (A) of Section 57-25-140, consistent with the safety and welfare of the traveling public necessary to carry out the policy of the State declared in this article and consistent with the national standards promulgated by the Secretary of Transportation or other appropriate federal official pursuant to Title 23, United States Code. The commission also shall promulgate regulations governing the issuance of the permits and standards for size, spacing, and lighting of the signs and their messages.
(B) The Department of Highways and Public Transportation shall issue permits for all signs on location on November 3, 1971, except those signs erected pursuant to items (1), (2), (3), (5), and (6) of subsection (A) of Section 57-25-140. It also shall issue permits for the erection and maintenance of additional outdoor advertising signs coming within the exceptions contained within items (4), (7), and (8) of subsection (A) of Section 57-25-140. Sign owners must be assessed the following fees:
(1) the appropriate annual fee plus an initial nonrefundable permit application fee of one hundred dollars;
(2) annual fee of twenty dollars if the advertising area does not exceed three hundred fifty square feet;
(3) annual fee of thirty dollars if the advertising area exceeds three hundred fifty square feet.
The permit fees must be allocated first for administrative costs incurred by the department in maintaining the outdoor advertising program.
The permit number must be displayed prominently on the sign.
(C) Permits are for the calendar year, must be assigned a permanent number, and must be renewed annually upon payment of the fee for the new year without the filing of a new application. Fees must not be prorated for a portion of the year. Only one permit is required for a double-faced, back-to-back, or V-type sign. Advertising copy may be changed without the payment of an additional fee. No permit is required before January 1, 1973. Failure to pay a renewal fee within ninety days of the date of the first bill for the fee cancels the permit and makes the sign illegal.
(D) The Highways and Public Transportation Commission shall promulgate regulations governing the issuance of permits which must include mandatory maintenance to insure that all signs are always in a good state of repair. Signs not in a good state of repair are illegal.
(E) The cost of permits or their renewals required under the provisions of this article are in addition to ad valorem taxes.
(F) No permit application may be approved without written permission of the owner or other person in lawful possession of the site designated as the location of the sign in the application.
(G) Permits for the following signs are void:
(1) conforming sign which is removed voluntarily for more than thirty days;
(2) conforming sign which is removed, dismantled, or destroyed by an act of God or vandalism for more than sixty days;
(3) nonconforming sign which is removed voluntarily or removed, dismantled, or destroyed by an act of God or vandalism.
Section 57-25-160. A person who erects or maintains an advertising device in violation of Section 57-25-140 is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days for each violation.
In addition, a person who violates the provisions of this chapter must be assessed by the department a civil penalty of one hundred dollars a day until the violation ends. A civil penalty must be paid to the department and allocated to the administrative costs of the outdoor advertising program. All monies in excess of the administrative costs must be used in the acquisition of nonconforming signs and may be carried over from year to year. No permit may be issued to a person who is in violation of the provisions of this chapter or who has not paid an assessed civil penalty.
Section 57-25-170. The Highways and Public Transportation Commission may provide within the right-of-way for areas at appropriate distances from interchanges on the interstate system and controlled access roads on the federal-aid primary system on which signs, displays, and devices giving specific information in the interest of the traveling public may be erected and maintained under standards and regulations authorized to be adopted and promulgated by the commission. The standards and regulations may provide for cooperative agreements between the Department of Highways and Public Transportation and private interests for the use and display of names for FOOD, LODGING, and GAS information signs on the highway right-of-way.
Section 57-25-180. (A) An outdoor advertising sign which violates the provisions of this article is illegal and the Department of Highways and Public Transportation shall give thirty days' notice by certified or registered mail to the owner of the advertising sign and to the owner of the property on which the sign is located for its removal. However, a sign lawfully in existence along the interstate system or the federal-aid primary system on November 3, 1971, or which was lawfully erected after that date, which is not in conformity with the provisions contained in this article, is not required to be removed until just compensation has been paid for it. Except as provided in Section 57-25-160, no sign otherwise required to be removed under this article for which just compensation is authorized to be paid by the department is required to be removed if the federal share of at least seventy-five percent of the just compensation to be paid upon its removal is not available for the payment. Nothing in this section prevents the removal of nonconforming signs for which no federal share is payable in those instances where no compensation has to be paid.
Employees or agents of the department may go upon the property upon which an illegal sign is located after expiration of the thirty-day period for the purpose of its removal. The period of the notice must be computed from the date of mailing. No notice, however, is required to be given to the owner of an advertising sign for which a permit has not been obtained. The moving of an illegal sign from one location to another without a permit having been obtained for the illegal sign does not require the department to provide additional notice to the sign owner before removing the sign, even if the sign is moved from the property of one owner to the property of another.
(C) When the department removes an illegal sign, it must be reimbursed the removal expenses by the sign owner. The sign must be maintained in the possession of the department for no more than thirty days during which the sign may be claimed by the owner upon payment of the expenses. If the sign is not claimed during the thirty days, it is declared abandoned, becomes the property of the department, and may be disposed of through sale or in any other manner which the department considers appropriate. Even if the owner does not recover the sign, he remains liable to the department for the expenses incurred in removing and storing the sign. Until the expenses are reimbursed, the sign owner must not be issued a permit for an outdoor advertising sign from the department.
(D) Review of the department's determination that a sign is illegal is through an administrative hearing pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act. Written request for the review must be received by the department within the thirty-day period.
Section 57-25-190. (A) The Department of Highways and Public Transportation may acquire by purchase, gift, or condemnation and shall pay just compensation upon the removal of the following outdoor advertising signs:
(1) those lawfully in existence on November 3, 1971;
(2) those lawfully erected after November 2, 1971.
(B) Compensation may be paid only for the taking from the owner of:
(1) a sign of all right, title, leasehold, and interest in it;
(2) the real property on which the sign is located of the right to erect and maintain a sign on it.
(C) No sign may be removed until the owner of the property on which it is located has been compensated fully for a loss which may be suffered by him as a result of the removal of the sign through the termination of a lease or other financial arrangement with the owner of the sign. The compensation must include damage to the landowner's property occasioned by the removal of the sign. The Department of Highways and Public Transportation is limited to an expenditure of five million dollars for the State's part of just compensation.
(D) Tourist oriented directional signs must be the last to be removed under the terms of this article.
Section 57-25-200. (A) Within the requirements of this article the Highways and Public Transportation Commission may enter into agreements with other governmental authorities relating to the control of outdoor advertising in areas adjacent to the interstate and primary highway systems, including the establishment of information centers and safety rest areas and take action in the name of the State to comply with the terms of the agreements.
(B) If an agreement is not achieved, the Attorney General of this State promptly shall initiate proceedings under the provisions of Section 131(1) of Title 23 of the United States Code with respect to hearings, stay of penalties, and judicial review in order to resolve the disagreement by judicial determination. He also shall initiate the proceedings if there is a determination to withhold funds from this State for its alleged failure to comply with any provision of Section 131 in order to obtain a judicial determination of whether this article provides effective control of outdoor advertising in conformity with the section and, if not, the extent of modifications necessary to bring it into compliance.
Section 57-25-210. The Highways and Public Transportation Commission is not required to expend funds for the removal of outdoor advertising under this article until federal funds are made available to the State for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this article and the commission has entered into an agreement with the Secretary of Transportation as authorized by Section 57-25-200 and as provided by the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.
Section 57-25-220. Nothing in this article abrogates or affects the provisions of a lawful ordinance, regulation, or resolution which is more restrictive than the provisions of this article."
Effective date
SECTION 2. The effective date referenced in Section 57-25-140(G), as amended in Section 1 of this act, is the effective date of this act.
Obscene or indecent billboards
SECTION 3. (A) No billboard shall be erected or displayed containing obscene or indecent words, photographs, or depictions.
(B) Obscene words, photographs, or depictions must be defined and interpreted as provided in Section 16-15-305(B), (C), (D), and (E).
(C) A billboard is indecent when:
(1) taken as a whole, it describes, in a patently offensive way, as determined by contemporary community standards, sexual acts, excretory functions, or parts of the human body; and
(2) taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Time effective
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
Approved the 30th day of May, 1990.