North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 19A - TRANSPORTATION › Chapter 02 - DIVISION OF HIGHWAYS › Subchapter E - MISCELLANEOUS OPERATIONS › Section .0600 - SELECTIVE VEGETATION REMOVAL POLICY › Section 02E .0609 - ISSUANCE OR DENIAL OF SELECTIVE VEGETATION REMOVAL PERMIT FOR OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
(a) Pursuant to
				  G.S.
				  136-133.2, within 30 days following receipt
				  of the application for a selective vegetation removal permit for outdoor
				  advertising, including the fee set out in
				  G.S.
				  136-18.7, the Division Engineer shall approve
				  or deny the application.
(b) The
				  application shall be denied by the Division Engineer if:
(1) the application is for an outdoor
				  advertising location where the outdoor advertising permit is less than two
				  years old pursuant to
				  G.S.
				  136-133.2;
(2) the application is for the opening of a
				  view to a sign that has been declared illegal pursuant to
				  G.S.
				  136-134, whose permit has been revoked, or is
				  currently involved in litigation with the Department;
(3) it is determined by Department personnel
				  that removal of vegetation shall diminish a planting installed for headlight
				  screening and affect the safety of the traveling public;
(4) the application is for the removal of
				  vegetation planted in accordance with a local, State, or federal beautification
				  project prior to September 1, 2011 or prior to the issuance of an outdoor
				  advertising permit for the erection of the applicable outdoor advertising
				  structure, whichever date is later, unless a mitigating replanting plan related
				  to the site for which the vegetation permit request is made, as set forth in
				  Rule .0611 of this Section, except for the provisions in Paragraph (d) and
				  Subparagraph (g)(11); and is agreed upon in writing by the applicant, the
				  Department, and, if applicable, the Federal Highway Administration;
(5) on two previous occasions, the applicant
				  failed to meet the requirements of a selective vegetation removal permit,
				  unless the applicant engages a landscape contractor to perform the current
				  work;
(6) the application is for
				  removal of vegetation that will open views to junkyards;
(7) the requested site is subject to a
				  five-year moratorium for willful failure to substantially comply with all
				  requirements specified in a prior selective vegetation removal permit pursuant
				  to G.S.
				  136-133.4(e);
(8) the applicant fails to complete the
				  requirements of the application as set forth in Rule .0608 of this
				  Section;
(9) any cutting, thinning,
				  pruning, or removal of vegetation encompassing the entirety of the maximum
				  vegetation cutting or removal zone is prohibited due to conditions affecting
				  the right-of-way to which the State is subjected or agrees in writing to
				  subject itself, including conservation agreements, prior to September 1, 2011
				  or prior to the issuance of an outdoor advertising permit for the erection of
				  the applicable outdoor advertising structure, whichever date is later, or due
				  to the application at any time of State statutes or rules or federal statutes
				  or regulations, including any conditions mandated as part of the issuance of a
				  permit to the Department for a construction project by a federal or State
				  agency with jurisdiction over the construction project. The Department may
				  mitigate within the right-of-way in the cut zone of a permitted outdoor
				  advertising structure so long as trees and other plant materials for mitigation
				  may not be of a projected mature height to decrease the visibility of a sign
				  face, and such mitigation vegetation may not be cut or removed pursuant to a
				  selective vegetation removal permit; or
(10) a modified vegetation removal zone
				  application request along acceleration or deceleration ramps is not in
				  accordance with
				  G.S.
				  136-133.1(a1) or Rule .0612
				  of this Section.