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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (2022)
HOUSE BILL 3814 By: Stinson
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to transportation; amending 69 O.S.
2021, Section 1273, which relates outdoor advertising
definitions; modifying defin ition; defining term; and
providing an effective date .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPL E OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 69 O.S. 2021, Section 1273, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 1273. As used in Section 1271 et seq. of this title:
(a) "Sign", "outdoor advertising" or "outdoor advertising
device" means any outdoor sign, display, device, notice, figure,
painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard or ot her
thing which is designed, intended or used to advertise or inform,
but shall not include surface marker s showing the location or rou te
of underground utility facilities or pipelines or public telephone
coin stations installed for emergency use.
(b) "Main traveled way" means the traveled way o f a highway on
which through traffic is carried. In the case of a divided highway,
the traveled way of each of the separated roadways for traffic in
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opposite directions is a main traveled way. It does not include
such facilities as frontage roads, turnin g roadways or parking
areas.
(c) "To erect" and its variants mea ns to construct, build,
raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw or in any
other way bring into being or establish. But these shall not
include any of the foregoing activit ies when performed as incident
to the change of advertising messa ge or customary maintenance o f the
sign structure.
(d) "Unzoned commercial or industrial areas " means those areas
which are not zoned by state or loc al law, regulation or ordinance,
and on which there is located one or more permanent structures
devoted to a commercial or industrial a ctivity or on which a
commercial or industrial activity is actually conducted, whether or
not a permanent structure is lo cated thereon, and the area along the
highway extending outward six hundred (600) feet from and beyond the
edge of such activity on bot h sides of the highway. Provided
however, the unzoned area shall not include land on the opposite
side of an interstate or dual-laned limited access primary high way
from the commercial or industrial activity establishing the u nzoned
commercial or industri al area or land on the opposite side of other
federal-aid primary highways, which land is deemed scenic by an
appropriate agency of the state.
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All measurements shall be from the outer edges of the regularly
used buildings, park ing lots, storage or processi ng areas of the
commercial or industrial activities, not from the property lines of
the activities, and shall be along or parallel to the edge of
pavement of the highway. Such an area shall not include any area
which is beyond six hundred sixty (660) feet from the nearest edge
of the right-of-way. In unzoned commercial or industrial areas
signs shall not be located:
(1) Within three hundred (300) feet of any buil ding used
primarily as a residence, unless the owner of the
building consents in writing to al low the sign to
exist; or
(2) Within five hundred (500) feet of any of the
following: playground, public park, garden, recreation
area or forest preserve, church, school and officially
designated historical battlefield. However, signs
may be placed within five hundred (500) feet of a
playground, provided, those signs are not visible from
any portion of the playground.
All spacing considerations are determined by whether or not they
exist within the adjacent or control area.
(e) "Commercial and industrial activities" means those
activities, clearly visible from the main traveled way, generally
recognized as commercial or industrial by zoning authorities in this
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state, except that none of the following shall be considered
commercial or industrial:
(1) Agricultural, forestry, ranching, g razing, farming and
related activities, including, but not limited to,
wayside fresh produce stands;
(2) Outdoor advertising structu res;
(3) Transient or temporary activities;
(4) Activities more than six hundred sixty (660) f eet from
the nearest edge of t he right-of-way;
(5) Activities conducted in a building principally used as
a residence; and
(6) Railroad tracks and minor sidings.
(f) "Official signs" means signs and notices erected and
maintained by public officers or pub lic agencies within their
territorial jurisdiction and pursuant to and in accordance with
direction or authorization contained in federal or state law for the
purposes of carrying out an official duty or responsibility.
(g) "Informational signs" means signs containing directions or
information about public places owned or operated by federal, state
or local governments or their agencies, publicly or privately owne d
natural phenomena, historic, cultural, educational and religious
sites, and areas of natural scenic beauty or naturally su ited for
outdoor recreation, deemed to be in the interest of the traveling
public.
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(h) "On-premise activities signs " means signs advertising
activities conducted upon the property on which the sign s are
located.
(i) "On-premise sale or lease signs " means signs advertising
the sale or lease of property on which they are located.
(j) "Interstate highway" means any highway at any time
officially designated a part of the National System of Interstate
and Defense Highways by the Department and approved by the
appropriate authority of the federal government.
(k) "Primary highway" means the Federal-aid Primary System in
existence on June 1, 1991, and any highway which is not on that
system but is on the National Highway System.
(l) "Centerline of the highway " means a line equidistant from
the edges of the median separating the main traveled ways of a
divided highway, or the centerline of t he main traveled way of a
nondivided highway.
(m) "Adjacent area" or "control area" means the area which is
adjacent to and within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the nearest
edge of the right-of-way on any interstate or primary highway within
urban areas, which six hundred sixty -foot distance shall be measured
horizontally along a line perpendicu lar to, or ninety (90) degrees
to, the centerline of the highway. Outside of urban areas, adjacent
area or control area means the area which is visible from the main
traveled way on any interstate or primary highway.
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(n) "Business area" means any part of a control area which is:
(1) Within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the nearest
edge of the right-of-way and zoned for business,
industrial or commercial activit ies under the
authority of any state zoning law, or city or county
zoning ordinance of this st ate; or
(2) Not so zoned, but which constitutes an unzoned
commercial or industrial area as herein defined.
(o) "Department" means the Department of Transportati on of the
State of Oklahoma.
(p) "Maintain" means to hold or keep in a state of efficiency
or validity, to support or susta in, by cleaning or repairing the
sign or changing the message on its face.
(q) "Visible" means capable of being seen without visual aid by
a person of normal visual acuity.
(r) "License" means the privilege to do business in the State
of Oklahoma having been granted by an official agency.
(s) "Permit" means the privilege to erect a sign or signs in an
individual location within the State of Oklahoma having been granted
by an official agency.
(t) "License fee" means the monetary consideration paid for th e
privilege of doing business in the State of Oklahoma.
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(u) "Permit fee" means the monetary consideration paid for the
privilege of erecting a sign or signs in a specific location within
the State of Oklahoma.
(v) "Urban area" means an urbanized area or, in the case of an
urbanized area encompassing more than one state, that part of the
urbanized area in each such state, or an urban place as designated
by the Bureau of the Census having a populatio n of five thousand
(5,000) or more and not within any urba nized area, within boundaries
to be fixed by responsible state and local officials in cooperation
with each other, subject to approv al by the Secretary of
Transportation. Such boundaries shall, as a minimum, encompass the
entire urban place designated by the Bureau of the Census.
(w) "Relocation permit" means a permit issued pursuant to the
provisions of subparagraph (d) of paragraph (3) of Section 1275 of
this title. A relocation permit shall hav e precedence over any
municipal or county restriction that interferes with the intended
purpose of providing a method and opportunity to minimize the cost
of acquiring legally erected outdoo r advertising signs by the
Department; provided, however, for thos e municipalities with a
population in excess of five hundr ed thousand (500,000) based on the
most recent census data, neither a relocation permit nor any outdoor
advertising sign permit shal l be issued in those areas in which a
municipality or county has l awfully enacted a prohibitio n on the
erection of an outdoo r advertising sign. This section shall not
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prohibit a registered sign owner from seeking just compensation
through a legal proceedi ng.
(x) "Playground" means a public space, owned or controlled by a
subdivision of government , with permanently affixed equipment
intended to be used for play by children.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2022.
58-2-9377 JBH 12/29/21