GA Code § 32-6-71 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 32 - Highways, Bridges, and Ferries|Chapter 6 - Regulation of Maintenance and Use of Public Roads Generally|Article 3 - Control of Signs and Signals|Part 2 - State Highway System|§ 32-6-71. Definitions

 As used in this part, the term:    "Defined area" means any area or areas within the state defined by the board, upon request made by the State Department of Transportation and approved by the United States Secretary of Transportation, to be an area where the removal of directional signs, displays, and devices which were lawfully erected under state law in force at the time of their erection, which were in existence on May 5, 1976, and which do not conform to the requirements of paragraphs (1) through (5) of Code Section 32-6-72 and paragraphs (1) through (3) of Code Section 32-6-73 would deprive the traveling public of directional information about goods and services in the specific interest of the traveling public and would work a substantial economic hardship in such defined area or areas.   "Directional and other official signs and notices" means only official signs and notices, public utility signs, service club and religious notices, public service signs, and directional signs.   "Directional signs" means signs containing directional information deemed to be in the interest of the traveling public, including information about public places owned or operated by state, federal, or local governments or their agencies; publicly or privately owned natural phenomena; historic, cultural, scientific, educational, and religious sites; and areas of natural scenic beauty or areas naturally suited for outdoor recreation.   "Directional signs, displays, and devices in the specific interest of the traveling public" means any directional sign, display, or device which was lawfully erected under state law in force at the time of its erection, which was in existence on May 5, 1976, and which provides directional information about goods and services in the specific interest of the traveling public but does not conform to the requirements of paragraphs (1) through (5) of Code Section 32-6-72 and paragraphs (1) through (3) of Code Section 32-6-73.   "Erect" means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw, or in any other way bring into being or establish, but it shall not include any of the foregoing activities when performed as an incident to the change of advertising message or the normal maintenance or repair of a sign structure.   "Illegal sign" means:   A sign for the maintenance of which a permit is required under this part, or any amendment thereof, which sign is being maintained without a permit;   A sign presently being maintained without a required permit even though it could have been permitted under any outdoor advertising control law in effect at the time of its erection;   A sign presently being maintained without a permit, which sign could not have been permitted under the law in effect at the time of its erection even though the sign may meet the requirements of this part for the issuance of a permit;   A sign on which the permit has been revoked pursuant to this part;   A sign on which a nonconforming application for permit was denied and the denial has become final; and   A nonconforming sign for which no permit was sought as required by Code Section 32-6-79.     "Industrial or commercial activity" means those activities commonly or generally recognized as commercial or industrial except that none of the following activities shall be considered commercial or industrial:   Outdoor advertising structures;   Agricultural, forestry, ranching, grazing, farming, and related activities, including but not limited to wayside fresh produce stands;   Transient or temporary activities;   Activities within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right of way which from the main traveled way are not visible and are not recognizable as being commercial or industrial activities;   Activities more than 660 feet from the nearest edge of the right of way;   Activities conducted in a building principally used as a residence; and   Railroad tracks and minor sidings.     "Information center" means an area or site established and maintained at a safety rest area for the purpose of informing the public of places of interest within the state and providing such other information as the department may consider desirable.   "Interstate system" or "interstate highway" means any road of the state highway system which is a portion of The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways located within this state, as officially designated or as may hereafter be so designated by the department and approved by the United States Secretary of Transportation pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, Section 103, United States Code, or any limited-access highway as officially designated or as may hereafter be so designated by the department and approved by the United States Secretary of Transportation pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, Section 103, United States Code.   "Maintain" means to allow to exist.   "Main traveled way" means the traveled way of a highway on which through traffic is carried; and, in the case of a divided highway, it means the traveled way of each of the separated roadways for traffic traveling in opposite directions. It does not include such facilities as frontage roads, turning roadways, or parking areas.  (11.1) "Multiple message sign" means a sign, display, or device which changes the message or copy on the sign electronically by movement or rotation of panels or slats.    "Nonconforming sign" means a sign which was lawfully erected but which does not comply with state law or state regulations due to changes in state law or changes in rules and regulations since the date of erection of the sign.   "Official signs and notices" means signs and notices erected and maintained by public officers or public agencies within their territorial or zoning jurisdiction and pursuant to and in accordance with direction or authorization contained in state, federal, or local law for the purpose of carrying out an official duty or responsibility. Historical markers authorized by state law and erected by state or local government agencies or nonprofit historical societies shall be considered official signs.   "Outdoor advertising" or "sign" means any outdoor sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard, or other thing which is designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform, any part of the advertising or information contents of which are visible from any place on the main traveled way of the interstate or primary highway systems.   "Parkland" means any publicly owned land which is designated or used as a public park, recreation area, wildlife or waterfowl refuge, or historic site.   "Primary system" or "primary highway" means the federal-aid primary system in existence on June 1, 1991, and any highway which is not on such system, but which is on the National Highway System, as officially designated or as may hereafter be so designated by the department and approved by the United States Secretary of Transportation pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, Section 103, United States Code.   "Private" shall not mean, through the effect of this part, publicly owned property leased to others.   "Public service signs" means signs located on school bus stop shelters, which signs identify the donor, sponsor, or contributor of said shelters and which contain safety slogans or messages which occupy not less than 60 percent of the sign area.   "Public utility signs" means warning signs, informational signs, notices, or markers which are customarily erected and maintained by publicly or privately owned public utilities as essential to their operations.   "Safety rest area" or "rest area" means an area or site established and maintained within or adjacent to the highway right of way, by or under public supervision or control, for the convenience of the traveling public.   "Scenic area" means any area of particular scenic beauty or historical significance, as determined by the state, federal, or local officials having jurisdiction thereof, and includes interests in land which have been acquired for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty.   "Service club and religious notices" means signs or notices, whose erection is authorized by law, relating to religious services or to meetings of nonprofit service clubs or charitable associations, which signs do not exceed eight square feet in area.   "Specific interest of the traveling public" means information regarding places offering lodging, food, motor vehicle fuels and lubricants, motor vehicle service and repair facilities, or any other service or product available to the general public, including, but not limited to, publicly or privately owned natural phenomena; historic, cultural, scientific, educational, or religious sites; and areas of natural scenic beauty or areas naturally suited for outdoor recreation.   "Traveled way" means the portion of a roadway used for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders.   "Unzoned commercial or industrial areas" means those areas which are not zoned by state law or local ordinance and on which there is located one or more permanent structures devoted to an industrial or commercial activity or on which an industrial or commercial activity is actually conducted, whether or not a permanent structure is located thereon, and the area along the highway extending outward 600 feet from and beyond the edge of the activity in each direction and a corresponding zone directly across a primary highway which is not also a limited-access highway, when the same is not a public park, public playground, public recreational area, public forest, parkland, scenic area, cemetery, primarily residential, or locally zoned. All measurements shall be from the outer edges of the regularly used buildings, parking lots, or storage, processing, or landscaped areas of the commercial or industrial activity and not from the property lines of the activity and shall be along or parallel to the edge of the pavement of the highway.   "Urban area" means an area included within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality having a population of 5,000 or more as determined by the latest available federal census and any area adjacent to such municipality, provided that such adjacent area is included within boundaries presently designated and fixed by the outdoor advertising urban area boundary maps and written records attached thereto on file in the office of the treasurer of the Department of Transportation.   "Visible" means capable of being seen (whether or not legible) without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity.   "Would work a substantial economic hardship" means having the potential to cause a substantial negative economic effect in a defined area or areas, as may be demonstrated by a projected reduction in gross business sales, state and local sales taxes, and employment opportunities within the defined area or areas.   "Zoned commercial or industrial areas" means those areas which are zoned for industrial or commercial activities pursuant to state or local zoning laws or ordinances as part of a comprehensive zoning plan. Strip zoning shall not be considered as a bona fide comprehensive zoning plan. Comprehensive zoning plans for the purposes of outdoor advertising only shall be approved by the board when an application for a permit has been made.    (Ga. L. 1967, p. 423, § 2; Ga. L. 1971, Ex. Sess., p. 5, § 2; Code 1933, § 95A-914, enacted by Ga. L. 1973, p. 947, § 1; Ga. L. 1974, p. 1422, §§ 22, 23; Ga. L. 1977, p. 263, § 1; Ga. L. 1979, p. 1086, § 2; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1017, §§ 2, 3; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 32; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1052, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 2000, p. 136, § 32; Ga. L. 2005, p. 601, § 4/SB 160.)   Law reviews.   - For annual survey of administrative law, see 38 Mercer L. Rev. 17 (1986).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Sign restriction at freeway entrance ramps.    - Freeway has one "main traveled way" and signs may not be permitted within 500 feet of an entrance ramp even though such ramp is on the other side of a divided four-lane highway. Department of Transp. v. Spells Sign Co., 141 Ga. App. 350, 233 S.E.2d 435 (1977).   Rest areas.    - Recreational Property Act (RPA), O.C.G.A. § 51-3-20 et seq., applies to rest areas maintained by the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT), and the DOT was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law with regard to a visitor's premises liability and negligence suit against the DOT resulting from the visitor's trip and fall while attempting to place garbage in a trash can at a rest area because the DOT was immune from liability as a result of the application of the RPA and the visitor failed to show that the DOT was wilful or wanton in DOT's placement of DOT's trash can or that DOT charged money for the use of DOT rest areas. Ga. DOT v. Thompson, 270 Ga. App. 265, 606 S.E.2d 323 (2004).    Welcome center where a traveler was injured was recreational and was a rest area, and thus the department which owned the welcome center was immune from liability. Matheson v. Ga. DOT, 280 Ga. App. 192, 633 S.E.2d 569 (2006).   Strip zoning.    - Denial of the request of landowners and a sign company for permits to erect outdoor advertising did not violate statutory authority, under O.C.G.A. §§ 32-6-71(29) and32-6-72(4), which allowed such advertising on commercially zoned property but provided that strip zoned property was not properly considered commercially zoned, or Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 672-6-.01(q) (1988), defining strip zoning, because: (1) the land on which the advertising would be erected was small in comparison to the owners' total property; (2) was rezoned to commercial use, a use less restrictive than surrounding property; (3) rezoning did not regard the neighborhood's character, as there was no commercial activity in the immediate vicinity; and (4) rezoning a small parcel to a less restrictive use out of character with surrounding land benefitted only the parcel's owners. Walker v. DOT, 279 Ga. App. 287, 630 S.E.2d 878 (2006).   Signs in windows are not outdoor signs.    - After a company installed three signs inside the windows of a building, the superior court erred in concluding that the Georgia Outdoor Advertising Control Act (OACA), O.C.G.A. § 32-6-70 et seq., regulated the company's signs because the OACA regulated outdoor signs, and it was undisputed that the company's signs were located inside the building, and the signs could not be characterized as outdoor signs. Monumedia II, LLC v. DOT, 343 Ga. App. 49, 806 S.E.2d 215 (2017).    Cited in Department of Transp. v. Sapp Outdoor Adv. Co., 171 Ga. App. 228, 319 S.E.2d 87 (1984); Ledford v. Department of Transp., 253 Ga. 717, 324 S.E.2d 470 (1985); Moreton Rolleston, Jr. Living Trust v. DOT, 242 Ga. App. 835, 531 S.E.2d 719 (2000).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Issuance of permits for outdoor advertising devices.   - Outdoor advertising devices located in areas zoned by local governments and subject to regulation by the department can be lawfully erected and maintained only in areas zoned, without further action of the local governing body, for commercial or industrial activities. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-24.   Renewal of permits.   - If there are activities permitted in the district which are commonly and generally recognized as commercial, then the permits for outdoor advertising devices may be renewed provided the criteria for renewal established elsewhere are met. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-24.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   ALR.    - Building regulations as applicable to billboards and similar structures, 60 A.L.R. 1158.   Validity and construction of zoning regulations relating to illuminated signs, 30 A.L.R.5th 549.