2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 57 - Highways, Bridges and Ferries › Chapter 25 - Outdoor Advertising › Section 57-25-190. Compensation for removal of signs; relocation of signs affected by highway projects.

(A) The Department of Transportation may acquire by purchase, gift, or condemnation and shall pay just compensation upon the removal of the following outdoor advertising signs:
(1) those lawfully in existence on November 3, 1971;
(2) those lawfully erected after November 2, 1971.
(B) Compensation may be paid only for the taking from the owner of:
(1) a sign of all right, title, leasehold, and interest in it;
(2) the real property on which the sign is located of the right to erect and maintain a sign on it.
(C) No sign may be removed until the owner of the property on which it is located has been compensated fully for a loss which may be suffered by him as a result of the removal of the sign through the termination of a lease or other financial arrangement with the owner of the sign. The compensation must include damage to the landowner's property occasioned by the removal of the sign. The Department of Transportation is limited to an expenditure of five million dollars for the state's part of just compensation.
(D) Tourist oriented directional signs must be the last to be removed under the terms of this article.
(E) Notwithstanding a county or municipal zoning plan, ordinance, or resolution, the owner of an outdoor advertising sign conforming to Section 57-25-110, et seq., whose property interests are acquired by a state highway project shall have the option to relocate the sign to a position within five hundred feet of the original sign site or alter the sign so that no portion of the sign overhangs the right of way pursuant to the following conditions:
(1) The relocation and alteration shall be pursuant to the federal uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4601, et seq.).
(2) The relocated site shall be in accordance with federal and state laws.
(3) If the relocated site meets federal and state laws, the relocation shall be allowed under the existing permit and no new local zoning or state permit shall be required; provided, that the relocated site is within the same county as the original sign site.
(4) Permission from the property owner, if different, at the relocated site shall be required.
(F)(1) Notwithstanding a county or municipal zoning plan, ordinance, or resolution, the owner of an outdoor advertising sign conforming to Section 57-25-110, et seq., whose property interests in the sign are acquired by a local highway project shall have the option to relocate the sign to a position within five hundred feet of the original sign site or alter the sign so that no portion of the sign overhangs the right of way, pursuant to the following conditions:
(a) The relocated site shall be in accordance with federal and state laws.
(b) If the relocated site meets federal and state laws, the relocation shall be allowed under the existing permit and no new local zoning or state permit shall be required; provided, that the relocated site is within the same county as the original sign site.
(c) Permission from the property owner, if different, at the relocated site shall be required.
(2) Alteration or relocation costs, as determined by the South Carolina Department of Transportation Relocation Assistance Manual, for an outdoor advertising sign whose property interests in the sign are acquired by a local highway project pursuant to this section shall be paid by the political subdivision that is responsible for the local highway project, pursuant to the following conditions:
(a) If the owner of an outdoor advertising sign whose property interests in the sign are acquired by a local highway project cannot relocate or alter the sign as permitted in this section despite the owner's best efforts to do so, then the political subdivision requiring the outdoor advertising sign's removal shall compensate the owner.
(b) Compensation paid by the political subdivision requiring an outdoor advertising sign's removal shall be paid pursuant to Section 39-14-10, et seq. The political subdivision is limited to an expenditure of five million dollars for its part of just compensation pursuant to this section.
(G)(1) Notwithstanding a county or municipal zoning plan, ordinance, or resolution, the owner of an outdoor advertising sign conforming to Section 57-25-110, et seq., in which its visibility from the main-traveled way has been obscured by a state or local highway project shall have the option to:
(a) without relocating the sign, alter only the height and angle of the sign to a position to restore the visibility and readability of the sign to the same or a comparable visibility and readability that existed prior to the state or local highway project; or
(b) if such alteration is not practical, or is more expensive than relocating, then relocate the sign within five hundred feet of the original sign site, pursuant to the following conditions:
(i) The relocated site shall be in accordance with federal and state laws.
(ii) If the relocated site meets federal and state laws, the relocation will be allowed under the existing permit and no new local zoning or state permit will be required; provided, that the relocated site is within the same county as the original sign site.
(iii) Permission from the property owner, if different, at the relocated site shall be required.
(2) The sign owner shall be responsible for all costs associated with the alteration and relocation of the sign under this subsection.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 33-591.6; 1971 (57) 2061; 1987 Act No. 173 Section 41; 1990 Act No. 519, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1530; 2000 Act No. 302, Section 1; 2021 Act No. 34 (S.667), Section 1, eff May 6, 2021.
Effect of Amendment
2021 Act No. 34, Section 1, rewrote (E) and added (F) and (G).