Alabama Administrative Code › Title 450 - ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION › Chapter 450-10-1 - PROCEDURE AND REQUIREMENTS FOR OUTDOOR ADVERTISING › Section 450-10-1-.10 - Selective Vegetation Control To Retain Outdoor Advertising Display Visibility

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1)
					Minor trimming of trees, shrubs, vegetation and other plant life on highway
					right-of-way for the purpose of retaining visibility of legal, permitted
					outdoor advertising signs and select non-conforming signs will be allowed under
					strict compliance with the following conditions:
1. The trimming or cutting must not adversely
					affect the aesthetics of the right-of-way.
2. No vegetation shall be trimmed or cut that
					is in place as a result of a Federal Air landscape project.
3. All cut vegetation shall be removed from
					the highway right-of-way by the applicant.
4. Access to sites adjacent to Interstate and
					other controlled access highways must be gained without using the main travel
					way of the highway.
5. Trimming or
					cutting at legal permitted signs will be allowed only at locations where the
					advertising sign installation preceded the obscuring growth. Trimming or
					cutting shall not be used to provide visibility where none existed or exists at
					a proposed sign location. Only maximum trimming or cutting necessary to retain
					the sight distance and visibility that existed at the time of the erection of
					the legal permitted advertising sign will be allowed. In no case will trimming
					be allowed further than 500 feet in advance of the sign, measured parallel to
					the roadway along the nearest edge of pavement.
6. Trimming of vegetation at legal
					non-conforming signs will be allowed at signs where it is determined by the
					Department that no damage to the natural aesthetics of the roadside will be
					incurred. In no case will trimming be allowed further than 3 00 feet in advance
					of the sign for legal non-conforming signs before the Highway Beautification
					Act of 1972, measured parallel to the roadway along the nearest edge of
					pavement. In no case will trimming be allowed further than 500 feet in advance
					of the sign for legal non-conforming signs after the Highway Beautification Act
					of 1972, measured parallel to the roadway along the nearest edge of
					pavement.
7. No trimming will be
					allowed within the median areas of divided highways.
8. The applicant will indemnify and save
					harmless the Alabama Department of Transportation from any actions resulting
					from the applicant's operation or the agent's operation.
9. Applications to trim or cut vegetation on
					the right-of-way shall be made by letter to the appropriate Transportation
					Department District Manager. The letter must contain detailed, specific
					information about the proposed cutting and a clause to satisfy the provision of
					Rule No. 8 listed above. The District Manager shall forward the letter along
					with his recommendation to the Division Engineer. The Division Engineer will
					notify the applicant in writing of his decision relevant to the application. If
					the application is approved the applicant shall notify the District Manager at
					least forty-eight (48) hours in advance of any trimming or cutting and not
					later than forty-eight (48) hours after trimming or cutting is complete. A
					separate application will be required for each sign and for each time trimming
					or cutting is proposed for a particular sign.
10. Failure of an applicant to adhere to
					these stipulations faithfully in any one instance will be grounds to deny
					future consideration to that applicant and grounds to revoke the outdoor
					advertising sign permit for the site involved.
11. Cutting of vegetation not approved by
					ALDOT will be presumed to be done by the sign-owner until proven otherwise.
					Such cutting will result in the permit for the sign being revoked and the sign
					being removed at the sign-owner's expense. Any clean-up necessary for the
					cutting of vegetation not approved by ALDOT will be at the sign-owner's
					expense.
12. Poisoning of
					vegetation is prohibited. No use of herbicides is allowed.
13. The section in no way precludes any
					rights of the sign owner granted under the Alabama Constitution of 1901 and the
					State of Alabama.