Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Transportation › Chapter Trans 201 - Control of Outdoor Advertising Along and Visible From Highways On The Interstate And Federal-Aid Primary Systems › Section Trans 201.20 - Local certification

Current through June 24, 2024
(1) PURPOSE. The purpose of this section is
			 to set out the standards employed by the department in making determinations of
			 customary use under s.
			 84.30(4)
			 (intro.), Stats., which are used for certifying local sign control ordinances
			 to the federal highway administration under
			 23 USC
			 131(d).
(2) APPLICABILITY. This section applies to
			 local certification applications filed by counties, cities, villages or towns
			 after August 1, 1983, and to applications for the re-certification of
			 previously certified ordinances filed after that date.
(3) DEFINITION. "Local certification" means
			 the department's acceptance, under s.
			 84.30(4)
			 (intro.), Stats., of a local zoning authority's determination of customary use
			 as to the size, lighting and spacing of outdoor advertising signs in the zoned
			 commercial or industrial areas of the locality.
(4) INVENTORY. An application for local
			 certification must include a copy of the local zoning ordinance and an
			 inventory of all existing signs within the area to be certified.
(5) ORDINANCE. The local determination of
			 customary use shall be in the form of an ordinance. The department shall accept
			 for certification an ordinance that meets the other requirements of this
			 section, that includes provisions ensuring effective enforcement and that
			 conforms to and complies with the following:
(a) The local zoning authority's controls
			 shall include the regulation of size, of lighting and of spacing of signs, in
			 all commercial and industrial zones.
(b) Unless a Wisconsin statute or
			 administrative rule requires otherwise, the local zoning authority's controls
			 may be either more or less restrictive than the appropriate controls set forth
			 in the agreement in effect between the department and the secretary of
			 transportation of the United States entered pursuant to s.
			 84.30(12),
			 Stats.
(c) If a local zoning
			 authority has extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction under s.
			 62.23(7a),
			 Stats., and exercises control of signs in commercial and in industrial zones
			 within this extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction, sign control by that local
			 zoning authority may be accepted in lieu of the otherwise applicable control
			 within the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction.
(d) The department shall notify the federal
			 highway administration in writing of those zoning jurisdictions wherein a local
			 zoning authority's controls apply and shall periodically assure itself that the
			 size, lighting and spacing control provisions of each applicable local zoning
			 ordinance certified under this section are actually being enforced by the
			 appropriate local zoning authority.
(e) Nothing in this section shall diminish
			 the department's authority or relieve the department from responsibility to
			 limit signs within controlled areas of commercial and industrial zones.
Note: Each of the provisions in sub. (5) (a) to (e) are based
				upon the provisions of
				23
				CFR 750.706(c).