An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Size, Placement and Use of Certain On-premises Signs
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1429
Committee: Transportation
Sponsors: CRAVEN
Amends: 23 MRSA §1914

Legislative Document 
No. 1429 
H.P.993 
House of Representati ves, March 22, 2005 
An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Size, Placement and Use 
of Certain On-premises Signs 
Reference to the Committee on Transportation suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representati ve LERMAN of Augusta. 
Cosponsored by Representative: CRAVEN of Lewiston. 
Printed on recycled paper 
17/~ 
1J7·mO£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 23 MRSA §1914, sub-§5. as repealed and replaced by PL 
1981, c. 318, §4, is amended to read: 
5. 
Interstate 
highways. 
Not 
more 
than 
one 
ea-ptemise 
on-premises signT advertising the sale or lease of the propertYr 
may 
be 
permitted 
on 
land 
adjacent 
to 
any 
portion 
of 
the 
interstate system, including ramps and interchange areas, waisa 
that is visible therefrom. 
Not more than one ea-ptemise on=preJJlis_e..Q sign visible from any 
portion of the interstate system~ including ramps and interchange 
areas, 
may be permitted more than 50 feet from the principal 
building or structure where the business, facility or point of 
interest is carried on. 
No ea-ptemise on-premises advertisement T located more than §G 150 
.feet from the principal building or structure where the business, 
facility or point of interest advertised is carried onr 
may 
exceed 20 feet in lea~at;T 1.smg~h or width or 25 feet in height or 
leG 
£5..Q 
square feet in area, 
including border 
and trim, 
but 
excluding supports. 
Any 9a-ptemise on-premises sign located more than 50 feet from 
the principal structure where the business, facility or point of 
interest is carried on that displays any trade name waisa that 
refers to or identifies any service rendered or product sold 
saall must display the name of the advertised business, facility 
or point of interest as conspicuously as such trade name. 
Sec. 2. 23 MRSA §1914. sub-§l1-A. 
as enacted by PL 2001, c. 
268, §3, is amended to read: 
II-A. 
Changeable 
signs. 
Net;wi~as~aaei~--6~96ee~ieR--eT 
paFa~Fapas--~---and---gr--€aaa~ea9le 
Changeable 
signs 
are 
not 
prohibited as long as the sign complies with all the terms of 
this 
subsection. 
The 
Department 
of 
Transportation 
shall 
administer 
the 
provisions 
of 
this 
subsection 
unless 
the 
municipali ty in which the sign is located and the QepaFt,meat,-ef 
±taasp9tt;at;i9a 
Q~PQr~m~gt 
have 
agreed 
in 
writing 
that 
the 
municipality shall oversee that particular sign. 
A. 
As used in this subsection, unless the context otherwise 
indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. 
(1) 
"Changeable sign" means an 9a-ptemise on-premises 
sign created, 
designed, 
manufactured or modified in 
such 
a 
way that its message 
may 
be electronically, 
digitally 
or 
mechanically 
altered 
by 
the 
complete 
substitution or replacement of one display by another 
on each side. 
• 
(2) 
"Display" means that portion of the surface area 
of a changeable sign that iS T or is 
is 
capable 
of 
being 
periodically 
purpose of conveying a message. 
designed to be or 
altered 
for 
the 
(3) 
"Lot of record" means a lot for which the deed was 
legally recorded, or whieh that was created by a plan 
legally recorded, 
in the registry of deeds 
for 
the 
county where the lot is located. 
Contiguous lots of 
record in the same ownership are considered one lot. 
(4) 
"Message" means a communication conveyed by means 
of a visual display of text. 
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( 6 ) 
"Time 
and temperature sign" means 
a 
changeable 
sign that electronically or mechanically displays the 
time and temperature by the complete substitution or 
replacement 
of 
a 
display 
showing 
the 
time 
with 
a 
display showing the temperature. 
b! 200l, c. 268, 
@3 
(new) . ?b 
B. 
The display 
OIl 
each side of 
a 
changeable signi-
may 
~ange as 
rapidly as 
technologically practicable and the 
signs are allowed to function to their complete capability 
as designed. 
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I. 
An 
urban 
compa,-"c,-,t~--,a",r._e~a~",o-=r_-,-,m,-,u"-,n,,-,~,,,-· c",-",i",p-"a,-"l"-,i"--t",-y~-",a""s_-,,d,-,,e,-,f,-,~,,-,' n=e-",d,----,"i=n 
section 754 
may 
not restrict the 
use or content of 
an 
on-premises changeable sign beyond that indicated in this 
section. 
SUMMARY 
This 
bill 
changes 
the 
placement, 
size 
and 
height 
restrictions on certain freestanding, 
on-premises signs viewed 
from 
a 
controlled 
highway. 
This 
bill 
also 
eliminates 
restrictions on changeable signs. 
•