MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Transportation

By: Representative Gadd

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 49-25-3, 49-25-5, 49-25-7, 49-25-9, 49-25-15, 49-25-17 AND 49-25-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE ALL STATE DESIGNATED HIGHWAYS, STATE AID ROADS AND CERTAIN OTHER PAVED ROADS WITHIN THE SPECIFIC GROUPS OF HIGHWAYS AND ROADS ON AND ALONG WHICH JUNKYARDS MUST BE SCREENED FROM PUBLIC VIEW; TO BRING FORWARD FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING SECTIONS 49-25-11, 49-25-13, 49-25-19 AND 49-25-23, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 49-25-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-25-3. For the purpose of promoting the public safety, health, welfare, convenience and enjoyment of public travel, to protect the public investment in public highways, and to preserve and enhance the scenic beauty of lands bordering public highways, it is hereby declared to be in the public interest to regulate and restrict the establishment, operation, and maintenance of junkyards in areas adjacent to the interstate * * * system, national highway system or state highway system within this state. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that junkyards which do not conform to the requirements of this chapter are public nuisances.

SECTION 2. Section 49-25-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-25-5. (a) The term "junk" shall mean old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber debris, waste, or junked, dismantled or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, iron, steel, and other old or scrap ferrous or nonferrous material.

(b) The term "automobile graveyard" shall mean any establishment or place of business which is maintained, used, or operated for storing, keeping, buying or selling wrecked, scrapped, ruined or dismantled motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts.

(c) The term "junkyard" shall mean an establishment or place of business which is maintained, operated, or used for storing, keeping, buying or selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard, and the term shall include garbage dumps and sanitary fills.

(d) "Interstate system" means that portion of the national system of interstate and defense highways located within this state, as officially designated, or as may hereafter be so designated, by the Mississippi Transportation Commission, and approved by the Secretary of Transportation, pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, United States Code Service, "Highways."

(e) "National highway system" means that portion of connected main highways, as officially designated, or as may hereafter be so designated, by the Mississippi Transportation Commission, and approved by the Secretary of Mississippi Transportation, pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, United States Code Service, "Highways."

(f) "State highway system" means all roads on the state designated highway system, all roads on the state aid system and all paved roads that intersect another road on the state designated highway system or the state aid system.

SECTION 3. Section 49-25-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-25-7. No person shall establish, operate, or maintain a junkyard, any portion of which is within one thousand (1,000) feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any road or highway on the interstate system, the national highway system or the state highway system, except the following:

(a) Those which are screened by natural objects, plantings, fences, or other appropriate means so as not to be visible from the main-traveled way of the system, or otherwise removed from sight.

(b) Those located within areas which are zoned for industrial use under authority of law.

(c) Those located within unzoned industrial areas, which areas shall be determined from actual land uses and defined by regulations to be promulgated by the Mississippi Transportation Commission.

(d) Those which are not visible from the main-traveled way of the system.

SECTION 4. Section 49-25-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-25-9. Any junkyard * * * which is within one thousand (1,000) feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of any highway or road on the interstate system, the national highway system or the state highway system shall be screened, if feasible, by the Mississippi Transportation Commission at locations on the highway right-of-way or in areas acquired for such purposes outside the right-of-way so as not to be visible from the main-traveled way of such highways.

SECTION 5. Section 49-25-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-25-15. Any junkyard which is within one thousand (1,000) feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of any highway or road on the interstate system, the national highway system or the state highway system and which does not conform to the exceptions contained in Section 49-25-7, or that cannot be made to so conform by screening as provided in this chapter, shall be required to be removed under Section 49-25-13 by July 1, 2001, or as soon thereafter as funds are available for that purpose. Any junkyard located along any highway made a part of the interstate * * * system, the national highway system or the state highway system after the effective date of this chapter shall be considered to have been lawfully established for the purposes of this chapter; and in the event any such junkyard does not conform to the exceptions in Section 49-25-7, or cannot be made to so conform by screening as provided in this chapter, it shall be required to be removed under Section 49-25-13 by the end of the fourth year after it shall be determined that it is nonconforming or as soon thereafter as funds are available for that purpose.

SECTION 6. Section 49-25-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-25-17. Any person, partnership or corporation that seeks to establish, or establishes, a junkyard within one thousand (1,000) feet of the nearest right-of-way line of any road or highway on the interstate system, the national highway system or the state highway system that does not come within one or more of the exceptions contained in Section 49-25-7, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for any such offense. Each day's presence of the junkyard within the prohibited distance shall be a separate offense for the purpose of the penalty provision. In addition * * *, the Mississippi Transportation Commission may seek injunctive relief in the courts of the county in which the junkyard is located to abate the * * * nuisance and to require the removal of all junk from the prohibited area.

SECTION 7. Section 49-25-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-25-21. The Mississippi Transportation Commission may enter into agreements with the United States Secretary of Transportation as provided by Title 23, United States Code Service, relating to the control of junkyards in areas adjacent to the interstate system, the national highway system or the state highway system, and to take action in the name of the state to comply with the terms of such agreement.

SECTION 8. Section 49-25-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

49-25-11. The State Highway Commission shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations governing the location, planting, construction and maintenance, including the materials used in screening or fencing required by this chapter.

SECTION 9. Section 49-25-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

49-25-13. When the State Highway Commission determines that the topography of the land adjoining the highways will not permit adequate screening of junkyards, or the screening of such junkyards would not be economically feasible, the State Highway Commission shall have the authority to acquire by gift, purchase, exchange, or condemnation such interests in lands as may be necessary to secure the removal or disposal of the junkyards, and to pay just compensation for the costs of relocation, removal or disposal thereof. When the State Highway Commission determines that it is in the best interest of the state, it may acquire such lands, or interest in lands, outside highway rights-of-way as may be necessary to provide adequate screening of such junkyards.

SECTION 10. Section 49-25-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

49-25-19. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to abrogate or affect the provisions of any lawful ordinance, regulation or resolution, which are more restrictive than the provisions of this chapter.

SECTION 11. Section 49-25-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

49-25-23. Federal funds appropriated to carry out the provisions of this chapter are to be apportioned to the commissioners' districts in the same manner as such federal funds are apportioned to the state, and matching state funds are to be apportioned to the commissioners' districts proportionately.

SECTION 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.