Current Status Bill Number:4836 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19980318 Primary Sponsor:Tripp All Sponsors:Tripp Drafted Document Number:BBM\9696CM.98 Companion Bill Number:1035 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Education and Public Works Committee 21 HEPW Subject:Outdoor advertising, advertisements; restrictions on; Highways and Streets, Signs
Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved
______ ________ _______________________________________ _______ ____________
House 19980325 Referred to Committee 21 HEPW
House 19980325 Recalled from Committee 26 HLCI
House 19980318 Introduced, read first time, 26 HLCI
referred to Committee
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.
TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 57-25-125 SO AS TO PROVIDE CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS UPON COMMERCIAL OR INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES WITH REGARD TO OUTDOOR ADVERTISING; BY ADDING SECTION 57-25-215 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN SIGNS MUST BE CONSTRUCTED WITH STEEL OR STEEL MONOPOLES; TO AMEND SECTION 57-25-120 RELATING TO THE DEFINITION OF CERTAIN OUTDOOR ADVERTISING TERMS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT MOBILE HOMES AND TRAILERS ARE NOT COMMERCIAL OR INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES; TO AMEND SECTION 57-25-140 RELATING TO SIGNS PERMITTED ALONG CERTAIN HIGHWAYS, SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE ERECTION OF SIGNS WITH VERTICAL STACK FACES OR DOUBLE-DECKED FACES; AND TO AMEND SECTION 57-25-190, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO COMPENSATION FOR REMOVAL OF SIGNS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT A GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY SHALL NOT REMOVE LEGALLY PLACED OFF-PREMISES OUTDOOR ADVERTISING WITHOUT COMPENSATING THE OWNER, AND TO PROVIDE THAT GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES AND OWNERS OF OFF-PREMISES OUTDOOR ADVERTISING ARE ENCOURAGED TO ENTER INTO RELOCATION AGREEMENTS IN LIEU AND INSTEAD OF ENTERING INTO COMPENSATION AGREEMENTS.
Whereas, it is the policy of this State to encourage governmental entities and owners of off-premises outdoor advertising to enter into relocation agreements instead of compensation agreements for the removal of off-premises outdoor advertising to continue development in a planned manner without expenditures of public funds while allowing continued maintenance of private investment and a medium of public communication; and
Whereas, the State and its political subdivisions are empowered to enter into relocation agreements on terms agreeable to the off-premises outdoor advertising owner and are required to compensate the owner for the actual cost of relocation unless the owner is reasonably unable to acquire an alternate permissible location of comparable cost and value within the same market area; and
Whereas, this act shall not be construed to prohibit a governmental entity from entering into a relocation agreement upon any lawful term. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 57-25-125. A commercial or industrial activity as defined in Section 57-25-120(5):
(1) must have a minimum one thousand square foot foundation constructed of concrete or another permanent material;
(2) that has a concrete foundation of two thousand five hundred square feet or greater may be granted an outdoor advertising permit upon issuance of a certificate of occupancy and meeting any other statutory requirement;
(3) that has a concrete foundation of less than two thousand five hundred square feet may be granted an outdoor advertising permit one year after the issuance of a certificate of occupancy and meeting any other statutory requirement."
SECTION 2. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 57-25-215. (A) Signs with faces three hundred square feet or larger permitted after July 1, 1998, must be constructed with steel.
(B) Signs with faces of six hundred seventy-two square feet permitted after July 1, 1998, must be constructed with steel monopoles."
SECTION 3. Section 57-25-120(5) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 181 of 1993, is further amended by adding at the end:
"(m) mobile home or trailers."
SECTION 4. Section 57-25-140 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 181 of 1993, is further amended by adding at the end:
"(K) Signs erected with vertical stack faces or double-decked faces are prohibited."
SECTION 5. Section 57-25-190 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 181 of 1993, is further amended to read:
"Section 57-25-190. (A) The Department of 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.
The State and its political subdivisions shall not remove or cause to be removed a legally placed off-premises outdoor advertising without paying compensation in cash or another method of payment mutually agreed upon to the owner of the off-premises outdoor advertising based on an approved appraisal valuation of the off-premises outdoor advertising removed or proposed to be removed.
(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 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.
(E) The State and its political subdivisions and owners of off-premises outdoor advertising are encouraged to enter into relocation agreements in lieu and instead of paying the compensation contained in this section to continue development in a planned manner without expenditures of public funds while allowing continued maintenance of private investment and a medium of public communication. The State and its political subdivisions may enter into relocation agreements on terms that are agreeable to the off-premises outdoor advertising owner and the governmental entity and to adopt rules, ordinances, or resolutions providing for the relocation of off-premises outdoor advertising. Notwithstanding another provision of law, this section does not prohibit the State or its political subdivisions from entering into a lawful relocation agreement."
SECTION 6. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.