Chapter 750 Oregon Laws 2001

AN ACT

SB 889

Relating to highway beautification; amending ORS 377.645, 377.712, 377.725, 377.726, 377.729 and 377.730; repealing ORS 377.545; and declaring an emergency.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. ORS 377.645 is amended to read:

377.645. (1) The Department of Transportation [shall have the discretion as to whether or not state highway funds shall be expended] may expend moneys appropriated to the department for the purposes of the screening, relocating, removal or disposal of junkyards as provided in ORS 377.625 to 377.640, except that the department may not use moneys that are subject to the provisions of section 3a, Article IX of the Oregon Constitution. Moneys appropriated for the purposes specified in this subsection may be expended by the department unless and until federal-aid matching funds are appropriated and made available to the state for such similar purposes as provided in section 136, title 23, United States Code.

(2) All money received by the Director of Transportation under ORS 377.505, 377.510, 377.515 and 377.605 to 377.655 shall be credited to the State Highway Fund.

SECTION 2. ORS 377.729 is amended to read:

377.729. The Department of Transportation may adopt rules establishing permit fees for purposes of ORS 377.725 and fees for an outdoor advertising business license issued under ORS 377.730. Fees established by the department shall be designed to recover the cost to the department of regulating signs that are outside the right of way of a highway but are visible from the highway.[This section establishes permit fees for purposes of ORS 377.725. The fees are as follows:]

[(1) The permit fee for any sign in a year in which the sign is new, is relocated under ORS 377.767 or is reconstructed, is as follows:]

[____________________________________________________________________________]

Fee For Sign Area

$25 25 square feet or less

$50 26 to 50 square feet

$150 51 to 400 square feet

$200 More than 400 square feet

[____________________________________________________________________________]

[(2) The annual renewal fee and the annual fee for signs not described by subsection (1) of this section is as follows:]

[____________________________________________________________________________]

Fee For Sign Area

$10 50 square feet or less

$15 51 square feet to 400 square feet

$20 More than 400 square feet

[____________________________________________________________________________]

[(3) If a permit remains valid under ORS 377.768 pending relocation of a sign but is not currently being used, the holder of the permit must pay a fee of $5 on or before January 1 of each year to renew the validity of the permit for another year or until the permit is used. If the fee required by this subsection is not paid, the permit shall be canceled.]

SECTION 3. ORS 377.730 is amended to read:

377.730. (1) A person shall not engage in the business of erecting or maintaining outdoor advertising signs for other persons without first obtaining an annual license therefor from the Director of Transportation and paying the annual license fee established by the Department of Transportation by rule as provided in ORS 377.729.

[(2) The annual fee for an outdoor advertising business license is:]

[(a) $25, if the applicant erects but does not own signs.]

[(b) $25, if the applicant owns one or more but fewer than 50 signs.]

[(c) $50, if the applicant owns more than 50 but fewer than 500 signs.]

[(d) $100, if the applicant owns more than 500 signs.]

[(3)] (2) An application for a license or renewal thereof shall be made on a form furnished by the director, shall contain such pertinent information as the director may require and shall be accompanied by the applicable annual fee. A license granted under this section expires on June 30 of each year. The fee shall not be prorated. The director shall by certified mail send to each licensee a notice of expiration of license and a renewal application form not less than 30 days before the date of expiration. [If a renewal application is received by the director after June 30, the license fee is double the fee specified by subsection (2) of this section.]

[(4)] (3) If the director finds that an applicant has knowingly provided materially false or misleading information in the application or that a licensee has violated any of the provisions of ORS 377.700 to 377.840, the director may revoke, suspend for a period of up to one year or refuse to renew the license unless a corrected application is filed or the violation ceases, within 30 days after written notice to do so is mailed to the applicant or licensee. During the suspension of a license, the licensee may continue in business, but shall not erect or reconstruct any sign requiring a permit under ORS 377.700 to 377.840.

SECTION 4. ORS 377.712 is amended to read:

377.712. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 377.700 to 377.780, the owner of any outdoor advertising sign in existence on June 12, 1975, located in a commercial or industrial zone in existence on June 12, 1975, that meets all requirements for obtaining an outdoor advertising sign permit as set out in ORS 377.700 to 377.780 and for which the owner had not secured an outdoor advertising permit as required by ORS 377.725 prior to June 12, 1975, either because of ignorance of the requirements of ORS 377.725 or because the area, road or street adjacent to which the sign was situated was not, at that time, designated as a state highway, shall be entitled to the issuance of an outdoor advertising sign permit by the [division] Department of Transportation upon application by the owner of the sign and the payment of the fee [set out in] established by the department under ORS 377.729.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 377.700 to 377.780, the owner of any outdoor advertising sign visible from a road or street that is designated as a state highway after February 19, 1990, is entitled to the issuance of an outdoor advertising sign permit for the sign upon application by the owner of the sign, payment of the fee [set out in] established by the department under ORS 377.729 and receipt of the affidavit required under ORS 377.723, if the sign was legally located within a commercial or industrial zone at the time of designation as a state highway.

SECTION 5. ORS 377.725 is amended to read:

377.725. (1) Unless an annual permit has been issued therefor, an outdoor advertising sign or a directional sign shall not be erected, maintained or replaced by any person.

(2) A person may apply for a permit to the Director of Transportation on forms furnished by the director. The permit application shall include a precise description of the sign and such other information as the director considers necessary or desirable to determine compliance with ORS 377.700 to 377.840. The director shall issue a permit for a sign that complies with ORS 377.700 to 377.840. A valid permit may be transferred to another person upon written notice to the director.

(3) A permit shall not be issued for an outdoor advertising sign or a directional sign located adjacent to an interstate highway or freeway unless the director determines that access to the sign from the interstate highway or freeway can be obtained without violating the access control line of the interstate highway or freeway.

(4) A permit shall be renewed annually on the first day of January. Application for renewal of a permit shall be filed prior to expiration of the term of the permit. If application for renewal of a permit is filed within 30 days after the expiration of the term, the permit shall be granted if [an additional fee equal to the fee specified by] any additional fee specified by the department in rules adopted under ORS 377.729 is paid at the time the application is filed. Any permit not renewed in accordance with this section shall be canceled.

(5) Permit fees for purposes of this section are as established by the department by rule under ORS 377.729.

(6) A permit shall be issued for one year. The applicable fee shall accompany the permit application. A fee shall not be prorated for a fraction of a year or be refunded if the sign is removed.

[(7) For the purpose of determining the permit fee:]

[(a) For a back-to-back sign, the permit sign area includes both sides of the sign.]

[(b) A double-faced sign or a back-to-back sign is one sign.]

[(c) A V-type sign is two signs.]

[(d) A tri-vision sign is three signs.]

[(e) Any mechanically operated multifaced display sign other than a tri-vision sign is the number of signs equal to the number of display faces. Nothing in this paragraph authorizes mechanically operated multifaced display signs.]

[(8)] (7) Advertising or information on the display surface of a sign may be changed or cutouts may be attached or removed within the sign area without obtaining a permit [or paying an additional fee]. However, a permit shall be obtained [and the prescribed fee paid] if the sign is reconstructed.

[(9)] (8) A reconstruction permit may be issued for the addition of another face on the opposite side of an existing, conforming sign under permit, that is no larger than the existing sign face.

[(10)] (9) The director shall cancel a permit and require removal of the sign as provided by ORS 377.775 if the director finds a sign has been erected, maintained or serviced from the highway right of way at any portion of the right of way where the Department of Transportation has acquired rights of access to the highway or rights of access have not accrued to the abutting property. In addition, the department may recover from the owner of the sign or person erecting, maintaining or servicing the sign, the amount of damage to landscaping, sodding, fencing, ditching or other highway appurtenances resulting from such acts.

[(11)] (10) The director may revoke a permit, unless a corrected application is filed or the sign is brought into compliance within 30 days after written notice thereof is mailed to the permittee, if the director finds:

(a) The applicant has knowingly supplied materially false or misleading information in the application for a permit or renewal thereof; or

(b) The sign covered by the permit is in violation of ORS 377.700 to 377.840.

[(12)] (11) The director shall cancel a permit immediately upon failure of a permittee to erect or maintain the sign as described by the permit application and to attach a permit tag thereto within 120 days after the date of issuance of the permit therefor.

[(13)] (12) The director shall assign to every permit when issued for an outdoor advertising sign and a directional sign a permit plate with identification number thereon and a current permit decal. The permittee shall attach the applicable permit plate with the current decal to the sign so as to be visible from the adjacent state highway. The absence of a permit plate and a current decal is prima facie evidence that the sign does not comply with ORS 377.700 to 377.840.

[(14)] (13) Except as otherwise provided in ORS 377.712 and 377.765, no permits shall be issued for the erection of any new outdoor advertising sign after June 12, 1975.

[(15)] (14) The director may establish more than one class or type of sign permit as necessary or desirable to carry out ORS 377.700 to 377.840.

SECTION 6. ORS 377.726 is amended to read:

377.726. (1) Permits may be issued under ORS 377.725 for the following signs visible from state highways, except those highways on the interstate system:

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 377.725 [(14)] (13), business identification signs and benches utilized as outdoor advertising signs.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 377.715, 377.725 [(14)] (13) and 377.770, outdoor advertising signs on bus shelters erected or maintained for use by and convenience of customers of a mass transit district, a transportation district or any other public transportation agency.

(2) The annual fee for a permit under this section shall be [as provided in ORS 377.725] established by the Department of Transportation by rule as provided in ORS 377.729.

(3) The Oregon Transportation Commission shall establish, by administrative rule, the number, size and location of the signs and the criteria for the issuance of permits under this section.

SECTION 7. ORS 377.545 is repealed.

SECTION 8. This 2001 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2001 Act takes effect July 1, 2001.

Approved by the Governor July 6, 2001

Filed in the office of Secretary of State July 6, 2001

Effective date July 6, 2001

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