MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2001 Regular Session

To: Highways and Transportation

By: Senator(s) Dearing

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 49-23-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE SIZE RESTRICTIONS PLACED ON CERTAIN SIGNS; TO AMEND SECTIONS 63-3-317 AND 65-1-75, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE CAMPAIGN SIGNS OF CANDIDATES FOR ELECTIVE OFFICE TO BE PLACED UPON THE RIGHTS-OF-WAY OF STATE HIGHWAYS IF CERTAIN CONDITIONS ARE MET; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 49-23-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-23-9. All signs as specified in Section 49-23-5(d) and (e) erected or maintained in business areas shall comply with the following standards which are consistent with customary use in the outdoor advertising business in Mississippi:

(1) (a) For signs erected prior to July 1, 2001, the maximum size of any outdoor sign or other advertising device shall be one thousand two hundred (1,200) square feet;

(b) For sign structures erected on or after July 1, 2001, the maximum area for any one (1) sign face shall be six hundred seventy-two (672) square feet, the maximum height shall be fourteen (14) feet and the maximum length shall be forty-eight (48) feet, inclusive of any border and trim on the sign face, but excluding any embellishment on, and cut-out extension of, the sign face, the base or apron, supports and other structural members. Any embellishment on or cut-out extension of any sign face shall not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the square footage of such sign face.

(2) The area of any sign face shall be measured by the smallest square, rectangle, triangle or circle or combination thereof which will encompass the entire sign.

(3) Sign structures erected on or after July 1, 2001, may contain one (1) or two (2) signs per face and may use only a side-by-side, back-to-back or V-type configuration and no other; provided, however, that if two (2) signs are used facing the same direction, the aggregate total area shall not exceed six hundred seventy-two (672) square feet. Sign structures lawfully in existence prior to July 1, 2001, may contain one (1) or two (2) signs per face and may be placed double faced, back-to-back or V-type; provided, however, that if two (2) signs are used facing the same direction, the aggregate total area shall not exceed one thousand two hundred (1,200) square feet.

(4) Sign structures erected on or after July 1, 2002, may be mounted only upon a single steel pole or structure.

(5) All illuminated outdoor signs or other advertising devices shall be so illuminated as to adhere to the customary practices of the industry in Mississippi at the time of passage of Sections 49-23-1 through 49-23-29. * * * No lighting devices shall be used which in any way imitate any traffic control device, railroad sign or signal, or highway directional signs.

(6) All outdoor signs and other advertising devices located within one-half (1/2) mile of an intersection of two (2) or more primary highways, or a primary highway and the Great River Road, or an interchange on the interstate system shall be erected and/or maintained with a minimum spacing between structures of two hundred fifty (250) feet, unless separated by another commercial building or structure, other than outdoor advertising, in which case outdoor advertising may be permitted on one (1) or more sides of building or buildings.

(7) No two (2) signs shall be spaced less than three hundred fifty (350) feet apart, except as to signs in existence on October 22, 1965, which shall not be removed by Sections 49-23-1 through 49-23-29. However, this spacing limitation shall not apply to areas within incorporated cities, towns, villages and in areas zoned industrial or commercial.

SECTION 2. Section 63-3-317, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

63-3-317. (1) No person shall place, maintain, or display upon or in view of any highway any unauthorized sign, signal, marking or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official traffic-control device or railroad sign or signal, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides from view or interferes with the effectiveness of any official traffic-control device or any railroad sign or signal. No person shall place or maintain and no public authority shall permit upon any highway any traffic sign or signal bearing thereon any commercial advertising, or any billboard or advertising sign of any kind or description, except that motorist services business signs and supports which are authorized by the State Highway Commission pursuant to Section 65-1-8 may be placed and maintained within state highway rights-of-way. This shall not be deemed to prohibit the erection upon private property adjacent to highways of signs giving useful directional information and of a type that cannot be mistaken for official signs provided that said signs are not erected closer than fifty (50) feet to the center line of state highways.

(2) Every such prohibited sign, signal or marking is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and the authority having jurisdiction over the highway is hereby empowered to remove the same or cause it to be removed after ten (10) days' notice to the owner thereof by registered letter or otherwise.

(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the campaign signs of persons who are candidates for elective office if such signs:

(a) Do not resemble an official traffic-control device or railroad sign or signal;

(b) Do not attempt to direct the movement of traffic; or

(c) Do not hide from view or interfere with the effectiveness or any official traffic-control device or any railroad sign or signal.

Any such sign shall be removed by the candidate within two (2) weeks after the campaign of the candidate has been concluded.

SECTION 3. Section 65-1-75, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

65-1-75. (1) The Mississippi Transportation Commission is authorized and empowered to have the transportation department locate, construct, reconstruct and maintain any designated state highway under its jurisdiction to, through, across or around any municipality in the state, regardless of the width of the street between curbs; and in so locating it is fully empowered to follow the route of the existing street or to depart therefrom, as in its discretion it deems advisable, and to obtain and pay for the necessary rights-of-way, as provided in Section 65-1-47. The municipality in which such construction is to be undertaken is likewise authorized to acquire rights-of-way on any such streets or on any newly located routes, either by purchase, gift or condemnation. Such rights-of-way may be acquired by either the municipality or the transportation department, subject to the approval of the commission, and the cost thereof may be borne by either or both as may be mutually agreed upon. In any event such municipality may be required to save the commission and department harmless from any claims for damages arising from the construction of the highway through such municipality, including claims for rights-of-way, change of grade line, interference with public structures, and any and all damages so arising. Municipalities may secure additional improvements by payment of the additional cost of same. The commission may require such municipality to cause to be laid all water, sewer, gas or other pipelines or conduits, together with all necessary house or lot connections or services, to the curb line of such road or street to be constructed, and the commission is authorized to refuse to have the department lay such pipelines or conduits beneath such roads or streets until the municipality has laid same or entered into an agreement to reimburse the commission or department for the expense thereby incurred.

(2) All construction of state highways in or through municipalities, where done at the cost and expense of the state, whether heretofore or hereafter, shall be maintained in the same manner and to the same extent as is construction on state highways outside the limits of municipalities to the end that investment of the state in such highway so constructed may be preserved and maintained; and all reasonable rules and regulations with reference to the preservation and maintenance of such highways constructed at state expense, whether within or without municipal limits, may be promulgated by the commission, except that it shall have no power to promulgate police regulations contrary to existing law. On any municipal streets or parts or sections thereof taken over for regular maintenance and maintained by the department as a part of the state highway system, the municipality shall not be liable for negligence occasioned by the maintenance or repair of such streets thus apportioned to and of such width as is maintained by the department. The municipality shall have full control and responsibility beyond the curb lines of any designated highway or street, whether heretofore or hereafter so designated, (except the interstate system) located within its present or future expanded municipal corporate limits, regardless of the ownership of the right-of-way, including, but not limited to, the construction and maintenance of sidewalks, grass mowing and drainage systems; however, the department may utilize the right-of-way purchased by the commission without any additional cost or permission.

Except as otherwise provided for in subsection (4) of this section, the municipality shall not allow any encroachments, signs or billboards to be erected or to remain on state-owned rights-of-way on any designated highway within its corporate limits without the consent of the commission. The municipality, at its own expense, shall provide street illumination and shall clean all streets, including storm sewer inlets and catch basins. The commission may enter into an agreement with the municipality or with a private entity to sweep and clean the designated highways within or without the corporate limits. The commission may, at state expense, provide illumination and may clean all interstate highways within the corporate limits of any municipality. The right of the municipality to grant franchises over, beneath and upon such streets is specifically retained, but the municipality shall require every grantee of a franchise to restore, repair and replace to its original condition any portion of any such street damaged or injured by it; however, permission to open the surface of any municipal street maintained by the department must be obtained from both the commission and the municipality concerned before any such opening is made. Each municipality shall retain full police power over its streets, particularly as to regulating and enforcing traffic and parking restrictions on such streets, but any traffic control and parking regulations repugnant to state law shall be null and void. The commission shall have the department erect, control and maintain all highway route markers and directional signs on such streets at state expense. The commission, at state expense, shall have the department install, operate, maintain, control, and have full jurisdiction over, all traffic control devices, including, but not limited to, signals, signs, striping and lane markings on state highway streets in municipalities having a population of twenty thousand (20,000) or less according to the current U.S. census; but municipalities over twenty thousand (20,000) population according to such census shall install, operate, maintain and control such devices at their own expense, subject to approval of the executive director regarding operations, method of installation and type only. Municipalities having a population of five thousand (5,000) or more but less than twenty thousand (20,000) according to the most recent federal census shall only be responsible for electrical operating costs; and all other costs for the installation, operation and maintenance of traffic control devices, including the changing of signal bulbs in traffic signal lights, shall be the responsibility of the transportation department. The commission may purchase at state expense and install traffic control devices in municipalities over twenty thousand (20,000) population and donate them to the municipalities for operation and maintenance whenever it appears to the commission that, in the interest of safety or convenience of the motoring public, any of the devices should be upgraded, replaced or removed. Any revenue from parking meters on any such streets shall be controlled by and belong to the municipality.

(3) The maintenance of all streets within the limits of any municipality in this state, regardless of size, which are presently being regularly maintained, in whole or in part, by the department at state expense as a part or parts of any designated state highway shall be continued. Whenever any state highway runs into or through the corporate limits of any municipality, the municipal street or the street utilized and marked as a part of any such state highway may be a part of the state highway system and may be maintained by the department; however, such route through any municipality shall be selected by the commission by orders spread on its minutes describing all such routes, and such route or routes may be changed, relocated or abandoned by the commission from time to time, all under the provisions, terms and conditions herein provided, but the commission shall have the department maintain only one (1) route of any highway through a municipality. Upon relocation of such state highway or abandonment thereof, the municipal street formerly used as a state highway shall thereby return to the jurisdiction of, and maintenance by, the municipality.

(4) Except as otherwise prohibited by federal law, the campaign signs of persons who are candidates for elective office may be placed on state-owned rights-of-way of any designated highway within the corporate limits of a municipality if such signs:

(a) Do not resemble an official traffic-control device or railroad sign or signal;

(b) Do not attempt to direct the movement of traffic; or

(c) Do not hide from view or interfere with the effectiveness or any official traffic-control device or any railroad sign or signal.

Any such sign shall be removed by the candidate within two (2) weeks after the campaign of the candidate has been concluded.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2001.