Chapter 877 Oregon Laws 1999
Session Law
AN ACT
SB 855
Relating to highway signs;
amending ORS 377.705, 377.710, 377.715, 377.720, 377.725, 377.726, 377.735,
377.745, 377.750 and 377.767.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
ORS 377.705 is amended to read:
377.705. To promote the public safety; to preserve the
recreational value of public travel on the state's highways; to preserve the
natural beauty and aesthetic features of such highways and adjacent areas; to
provide information about and direct travelers to public accommodations, [commercial] services for the traveling
public, campgrounds, parks, recreational areas, and points of scenic, historic,
cultural and educational interest, it is the policy of this state and the purpose
of ORS 377.700 to 377.840 and 377.992:
(1) To establish official information centers and motorist
informational signs, including sign plazas in appropriate locations for the
convenient arrangement of those signs.
(2) To provide for publication and distribution of official
guidebooks and other publications.
(3) To prohibit the indiscriminate use of other outdoor
advertising.
(4) To provide motorists, where feasible, a telephone
emergency, information and reservation system for lodging.
SECTION 2.
ORS 377.710 is amended to read:
377.710. As used in ORS 377.700 to 377.840 unless the context
otherwise requires:
(1) "Back-to-back sign" means a sign with multiple
display surfaces mounted on a single structure with display surfaces visible to
traffic from opposite directions of travel.
(2) "Business identification sign" means a sign not
exceeding 32 square feet that identifies a business and that displays only
information necessary to adequately describe the business and the direction and
distance to the business.
(3) "Commercial or industrial zone" means an area,
adjacent to a state highway, that is zoned for commercial or industrial use by
or under state statute or local ordinance.
(4) "Council" means the Travel Information Council
created by ORS 377.835.
(5) "Cutout" means every type of display in the form
of letters, figures, characters or other representations in cutout or irregular
form attached to and superimposed upon a sign.
(6) "Department" means the Department of
Transportation.
(7) "Directional sign" means a sign:
(a) Identifying and containing
directional information to one or more public places owned or operated by
federal, state or local governments or one of their agencies; [a sign]
(b) Identifying and
containing directional information to publicly or privately owned natural
phenomena or historic, cultural, scientific, educational and religious sites; [and a sign] or
(c) Identifying and containing
directional information to areas of natural scenic beauty or areas naturally
suited for outdoor recreation, deemed to be in the interest of the traveling
public.
(8) "Director" means the Director of Transportation.
(9) "Display surface" means the area of a sign made
available for the purpose of displaying the advertising or informational
message.
(10) "Double-faced sign" means a sign with multiple
display surfaces with two or more separate and different messages visible to
traffic from one direction of travel.
(11) "Erect" means to construct, build, assemble,
place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw or in any way bring into being or
establish.
(12) "Federal-aid primary system" or "primary
highway" means the federal-aid primary system in existence on June 1,
1991, and any highway that is not on such system but that is on the National
Highway System.
(13) "Freeway" means a divided arterial highway with
four or more lanes available for through traffic with full control of access
and grade separation at intersections.
(14) "Governmental unit" means the Federal
Government, the state, or a city, county or other political subdivision or an
agency thereof.
(15) "Interstate highway" or "interstate
system" means every state highway that is a part of the National System of
Interstate and Defense Highways established pursuant to section 103(e), title
23, United States Code.
(16) "Logo" means a symbol or design used by a
business as a means of identification of its products or services.
(17) "Logo sign" means a sign located on highway
right of way on which logos for gas, food, lodging and camping are mounted.
(18) "Maintain," "maintained,"
"maintaining" or "maintenance" includes painting, changing
advertising or information on display surfaces, adding or removing a cutout,
routine repairs necessary to maintain the sign in a neat, clean, attractive and
safe condition, and the term includes allowing to exist.
(19) "Main-traveled way" means the through traffic
lanes, exclusive of frontage roads, auxiliary lanes and ramps.
(20) "Motorist informational sign" means a sign
erected in a safety rest [areas] area, scenic [overlooks] overlook[,] or [in] sign [plazas] plaza and maintained under the authority of ORS 377.700 to 377.840
to inform the traveling public about public accommodations, [commercial] services for the traveling
public and points of scenic, historic, cultural, scientific, outdoor
recreational and educational interest.
(21) "Nonconforming sign" means a sign that is
subject to, but does not comply with, the provisions of ORS 377.700 to 377.840.
(22) "On-premises
sign" means a sign designed, intended or used to advertise, inform or
attract the attention of the public as to:
(a) Activities conducted on
the premises on which the sign is located; or
(b) The sale or lease of the
premises on which the sign is located.
[(22)] (23) "Outdoor advertising
sign" means a sign designed,
intended or used to advertise, inform or attract the attention of the public as
to [which advertises]:
(a) Goods, products or services which are not sold,
manufactured or distributed on or from the premises on which the sign is
located; [or]
(b) Facilities not located on the premises on which the sign is
located[.]; or
(c) Activities not conducted
on the premises on which the sign is located.
[(23)] (24) "Protected area" means
an area located within 660 feet of the edge of the right of way of any portion
of an interstate highway constructed upon any part of right of way, the entire
width of which was acquired by the State of Oregon subsequent to July 1, 1956,
and which portion or segment does not traverse:
(a) A commercial or industrial zone within the boundaries of a
city, as such boundaries existed on September 21, 1959, wherein the use of real
property adjacent to the interstate highway is subject to municipal regulation
or control; or
(b) Other areas where land use, as of September 21, 1959, is
established as industrial or commercial pursuant to state law.
[(24)] (25) "Reconstruction" means
replacing a sign totally or partially destroyed, increasing its size or
performing any work, except maintenance work, that alters or changes a sign
authorized to exist under the provisions of ORS 377.700 to 377.840.
[(25)] (26) "Relocation" includes,
but is not limited to the removal of a sign from one situs together with the
erection of a new sign upon another situs as a substitute therefor.
[(26) "Residential
directional sign" means a sign erected and maintained by an individual to
indicate the location of the residence, farm or ranch of the individual.]
(27) "Rest area" means an area established and
maintained within or adjacent to a state highway right of way by or under
public supervision or control for the convenience of the traveling public, and
includes safety rest areas, scenic overlooks or similar roadside areas.
(28) "Secondary highway" means any state highway
other than an interstate highway or primary highway.
(29) "Sign" means any sign, display, message, emblem,
device, figure, painting, drawing, placard, poster, billboard or other thing
that is designed, used or intended for advertising purposes or to inform or
attract the attention of the public, and the term includes the sign structure,
display surface and all other component parts of a sign; when dimensions of a
sign are specified, the term includes panels and frames; and the term includes
both sides of a sign of specified dimensions or area.
(30) "Sign area" means the overall dimensions of all
panels capable of displaying messages on a sign structure.
(31) "Sign plaza" means a structure erected and
maintained by or for the department or the Travel Information Council, adjacent
or in close proximity to a state highway, for the display of motorist
information.
(32) "Sign regulations for protected areas" means
regulations promulgated by the department applicable to signs erected within
protected areas prior to, and in effect on, July 2, 1971, or amendments to such
regulations promulgated by the department.
(33) "Sign structure" or "structure" means
the supports, uprights, braces, framework and display surfaces of a sign.
(34) "State highway," "highway" or "state
highway system" means the entire width between the boundary lines of the
right of way of every state highway, as defined by ORS 366.005, and the terms
also include the interstate system and the federal-aid primary system.
(35) "Tourist oriented directional sign" means a sign
erected on state highway right of way to provide business identification and
directional information for [businesses,]
services and activities of interest to tourists.
(36) "Traffic control sign or device" means an
official route marker, guide sign, warning sign, or sign directing or
regulating traffic, which has been erected by or under the order of the
department.
(37) "Tri-vision
sign" means an outdoor advertising structure that contains display
surfaces composed of a series of three-sided rotating slats arranged side by
side, either horizontally or vertically, that are rotated by an
electromechanical process, capable of displaying a total of three separate and
distinct messages, one message at a time, provided that the rotation from one
message to another message is no more frequent than every eight seconds and the
actual rotation process is accomplished in four seconds or less.
[(37)] (38) "V-type sign" means two
signs erected independently of each other with multiple display surfaces having
single or multiple messages visible to traffic from opposite directions, with
an interior angle between the two signs of not more than 120 degrees and the
signs separated by not more than 10 feet at the nearest point.
[(38)] (39) "Visible" means capable
of being seen without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity, whether
or not legible from the main-traveled way of any state highway.
[(39)] (40) "Waiver" means an
agreement executed between the owner of a sign, the owner of the property on
which the sign is located and the department which provides that those signs
erected adjacent to an interstate or primary highway after October 22, 1965,
shall be removed, with partial compensation or no compensation, as provided by
the agreement.
SECTION 3.
ORS 377.715 is amended to read:
377.715. ORS 377.700 to 377.840, and the rules adopted pursuant
thereto, apply to outdoor advertising signs,
on-premises signs and directional signs erected or maintained outside the
right of way along state highways and visible to the traveling public from a
state highway. A person may not erect or maintain an outdoor advertising, on-premises or directional sign
visible to the traveling public from a state highway, except where permitted
outside the right of way of a state highway, unless it complies with the
provisions of ORS 377.505 to 377.545, 377.700 to 377.840, and the rules adopted
pursuant thereto, and with applicable
federal requirements as of the effective
date of this 1999 Act, including any statute, regulation or contract. A
person may not erect or maintain an outdoor advertising sign, directional sign
or on-premise sign on the right of way of a state highway.
SECTION 4.
ORS 377.720 is amended to read:
377.720. A sign may not be erected or maintained if it:
(1) Interferes with, imitates or resembles any official traffic
control sign, signal or device, or attempts or appears to attempt to direct the
movement of traffic.
(2) Prevents the driver of a motor vehicle from having a clear
and unobstructed view of official traffic control signs and approaching or
merging traffic.
(3) Contains, includes or is illuminated by any flashing,
intermittent, revolving, rotating or moving light or moves or has any animated
or moving parts. This subsection does not apply to:
(a) A traffic control sign.
(b) Signs, displays, devices or portions thereof with lights
that may be changed at intermittent intervals by electronic process or remote
control providing only public service information such as time, date,
temperature, weather or similar information.
(c) Signs, displays, devices or portions thereof with lights
that may be changed at intermittent intervals by electronic process or remote
control and that advertise activities conducted on the premises where the sign,
display or device is located.
(d) A tri-vision sign,
if allowed specifically for Oregon, in writing, by the United States Department
of Transportation.
(4) Has any lighting, unless such lighting is so effectively
shielded as to prevent beams or rays of light from being directed at any
portion of the main traveled way of a state highway, or is of such low
intensity or brilliance as not to cause glare or to impair the vision of the
driver of a motor vehicle or otherwise to interfere with the operation thereof.
(5) Is located upon a tree, or painted or drawn upon a rock or
other natural feature.
(6) Advertises or calls attention to a business or other
activity or a profession, commodity, product, service or entertainment no
longer carried on, produced, sold or offered.
(7) Advertises activities that are illegal under any state or
federal law applicable at the location of the sign or of the activities.
(8) Is not maintained in a neat, clean and attractive condition
and in good repair.
(9) Is not able to withstand a wind pressure of 20 pounds per
square foot of exposed surface.
(10) Is on a vehicle or trailer that is located on public or
private property. This subsection does not apply to a vehicle or trailer used
for transportation by the owner or person in control of the property.
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 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 established by
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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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) 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),
business identification signs and benches utilized as outdoor advertising
signs.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 377.715, 377.725 (14)
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.
(3) The Oregon Transportation Commission shall establish, by
administrative rule, the number, size[,] and location [and content] of the signs and the criteria for the issuance of
permits under this section.
SECTION 7.
ORS 377.735 is amended to read:
377.735. [(1) If
applicable federal regulations are met, the permit requirements of ORS 377.700
to 377.840 do not apply to:]
[(a) Signs with an area
of not more than 260 square inches identifying motor bus stops or fare zone
limits of common carriers.]
[(b) Signs erected and
maintained by a city showing the place and time of services or meetings of
churches and civic organizations in the city; however, not more than two such
signs may be erected and maintained that are readable by the traveling public proceeding
in any one direction on any one highway.]
[(c) Residential
directional signs along highways other than fully controlled access highways;
however, this paragraph does not apply if a professional, commercial or
business activity is maintained at the location and the sign indicates its
existence.]
[(d) Official traffic
control signs.]
[(e) Signs of a
governmental unit including but not limited to regulatory devices, legal
notices or warnings.]
[(f) Small signs
displayed for the direction, instruction or convenience of the public,
including signs which identify rest rooms, freight entrances, posted areas or
the like, with total surface area not exceeding four square feet.]
[(g) Signs maintained for
not more than two weeks announcing an auction or a campaign, drive or event of
a civic, philanthropic or educational organization.]
[(h) Memorial signs or
tablets.]
[(i) Signs maintained for
not more than six weeks by state and county fairs, rodeos, roundups and
expositions.]
[(j) Directional signs
maintained temporarily to provide directions to places of business offering for
sale agricultural products harvested or produced on the premises where the sale
is taking place.]
[(k) A sign advertising
the sale of real estate by the owner or agent of the owner and erected on the
advertised premises.]
[(L) Signs warning of
hazards or danger on the property upon which they are located, or warning
against hunting, fishing or trespassing upon such property.]
[(m) Signs approved by
the Director of Transportation and erected by a utility or common carrier for
the purpose of notices necessary for the information, safety or direction of
the public.]
[(n) Church directional
signs not to exceed six square feet in size, installed on private property.]
[(o) Temporary political
signs erected or maintained by candidates or political committees on private
property, if the sign area does not exceed 32 square feet and if the sign is
removed within 30 days after the date of the election for which erected.]
[(2) The signs referred
to in subsection (1) (b), (c), (e), (g) to (L), (n) and (o) of this section
shall be subject to regulations adopted by the Oregon Transportation Commission
as to the size, number and general location and as to time and procedure for
erection and removal of temporary signs.]
[(3) ORS 377.700 to
377.840 shall not apply to an outdoor advertising sign erected or maintained
within a city more than 660 feet from the nearest edge of the right of way of a
state highway unless the sign is designed to be viewed primarily from the state
highway.]
(1) If applicable federal
requirements as of the effective date of this 1999 Act are met, the permit
requirements of ORS 377.700 to 377.840 do not apply to:
(a) Signs of a governmental
unit, including but not limited to traffic control or regulatory devices, legal
notices or warnings.
(b) A temporary sign on
private property if:
(A) The sign does not exceed
12 square feet;
(B) The sign is not on a
permanent base;
(C) The sign does not remain
in place for a period of more than 60 days in a calendar year, except that a
sign erected by a resident on the resident's residential property may remain in
place for longer than 60 days in a calendar year;
(D) No person receives
compensation for displaying the sign; and
(E) The sign complies with
ORS 377.720.
(c) On-premises signs.
(2) The Department of
Transportation may adopt rules that, for good cause shown, allow a person
displaying a temporary sign to obtain a variance from the restrictions in
subsection (1)(b) of this section. The department shall not consider the
content of the sign in deciding whether to allow a variance.
(3) The department shall
adopt rules for the approval and preservation of historic signs. Rules adopted
under this subsection may not be based on or allow consideration of the content
of the signs.
(4) The department shall
adopt rules for the installation and maintenance of permanent signs that do not
exceed six square feet and that provide information for the safety or
convenience of the public.
(5) ORS 377.700 to 377.840
do not apply to an outdoor advertising sign erected or maintained within a city
more than 660 feet from the nearest edge of the right of way of a state
highway, unless the sign is designed to be viewed primarily from the state
highway.
SECTION 8.
ORS 377.745 is amended to read:
377.745. (1) An outdoor advertising sign shall not exceed:
(a) A length of 48 feet.
(b) A height, excluding foundation and supports, of 14 feet; or
(c) A sign area of 825 square feet.
(2) In determining the dimensions of a sign or sign area under
this section:
(a) Cutouts that project beyond the borders of a sign shall be
included in measuring the area of a sign, but not the height or length of a
sign. The sign area of cutouts shall be no more than 20 percent of the area of
the sign to which attached.
(b) The limitations apply to each side of a back-to-back sign.
(c) The size limitations apply to each sign forming a V-type
sign.
(d) The size limitations
apply separately to each of the three display surfaces on a tri-vision sign.
SECTION 9.
ORS 377.750 is amended to read:
377.750. (1) For the purpose of applying the spacing provided
by subsection (2) of this section:
(a) Distances shall be measured lineally along the highway and
parallel to the center line of the highway.
(b) A back-to-back, double-faced [or], V-type or tri-vision sign shall be considered
one sign.
(c) Distance from an interchange shall be measured from a point
departing from or entering onto the main-traveled way.
(2) Minimum spacing between outdoor advertising signs shall be:
___________________________________________________________________
Minimum space Minimum
between signs on space from
where erected highway (in feet) (in feet)
Interstate Highway
Inside cities 500 None
Freeway
Inside cities 500 None
Outside cities 1,000 500
Other state highway
Inside cities 100 None
Outside cities 500 None
___________________________________________________________________
SECTION 10.
ORS 377.767 is amended to read:
377.767. A permit shall be issued for the relocation of an
outdoor advertising sign lawfully erected in a commercial or industrial zone in
existence on June 12, 1975, if the site lease for said sign is terminated for
any reason. The existing sign may be relocated in any commercial or industrial
zone upon the following conditions:
(1) The sign that is relocated shall not have a sign size
larger than that specified in the permit for the sign located on the site on
which the lease was terminated. However, a sign 250 square feet or more may be
increased to the maximum size allowed by the provisions of ORS 377.700 to
377.840 if not relocated so as to be visible from Interstate Highway 5,
Interstate Highway 205, or Interstate Highway 84.
(2) The site for the relocated sign is not within the distances
set out below, on the same side of the highway, from a site from which an
outdoor advertising sign was purchased pursuant to the provisions of ORS
377.700 to 377.840.
___________________________________________________________________
Distance in Either
Types of Highway Direction from Site
Interstate 2000
feet
Other State Highway 500
feet
___________________________________________________________________
(3) Where a sign is relocated in a commercial or industrial
zone which first came into existence after January 1, 1973, the site shall be
within 750 feet of a developed commercial or industrial area, as measured
parallel to the centerline of the highway. For the purposes of ORS 377.710,
377.715, 377.725, 377.735, 377.770, 377.773, 377.780, 377.800 and 377.845 and
this section, a "developed commercial or industrial area" shall
include only the land occupied by a building, parking lot, storage or
processing area of a commercial or industrial use and on the same side of the
highway.
(4) After October 4, 1977, no permit shall be issued to
relocate a sign more than 100 miles from the site of an existing sign as of
September 1, 1977, as measured along public streets, roads or highways between
that site and the proposed new site.
(5) In accordance with applicable provisions of ORS 183.310 to
183.550, the Department of Transportation may adopt rules to:
(a) Prohibit the erection of signs, including relocation of
signs, along any portion of U.S. Highway 101 if the signs or the erection of
such signs would violate federal scenic byway laws or regulations or conditions
of federal grants relating to scenic byways.
(b) Establish design standards for signs on any highway or
portion of highway that is designated a scenic byway by the Oregon
Transportation Commission.
(6) If the sign that is
relocated is relocated as a tri-vision sign, three equivalent permits must be
issued for the sign and the sign must meet all requirements of this section.
Approved by the Governor
July 28, 1999
Filed in the office of
Secretary of State July 28, 1999
Effective date October 23,
1999
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