The Florida Senate

479.01  Definitions.--As used in this chapter, the term:

(1)  "Automatic changeable facing" means a facing which through a mechanical system is capable of delivering two or more advertising messages and shall not rotate so rapidly as to cause distraction to a motorist.

(2)  "Business of outdoor advertising" means the business of constructing, erecting, operating, using, maintaining, leasing, or selling outdoor advertising structures, outdoor advertising signs, or outdoor advertisements.

(3)  "Commercial or industrial zone" means a parcel of land designated for commercial or industrial use under both the future land use map of the comprehensive plan and the land use development regulations adopted pursuant to chapter 163. If a parcel is located in an area designated for multiple uses on the future land use map of a comprehensive plan and the land development regulations do not clearly designate that parcel for a specific use, the area will be considered an unzoned commercial or industrial area if it meets the criteria of subsection (23).

(4)  "Controlled area" shall mean 660 feet or less from the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any portion of the State Highway System, interstate, or federal-aid primary system and beyond 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of any portion of the State Highway System, interstate, or federal-aid primary system outside an urban area.

(5)  "Department" means the Department of Transportation.

(6)  "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 does not include any of the foregoing activities when performed as an incident to the change of advertising message or customary maintenance or repair of a sign.

(7)  "Federal-aid primary highway system" means the existing, unbuilt, or unopened system of highways or portions thereof, which shall include the National Highway System, designated as the federal-aid primary highway system by the department.

(8)  "Highway" means any road, street, or other way open or intended to be opened to the public for travel by motor vehicles.

(9)  "Interstate highway system" means the existing, unbuilt, or unopened system of highways or portions thereof designated as the national system of interstate and defense highways by the department.

(10)  "Main-traveled way" means the traveled way of a highway on which through traffic is carried. In the case of a divided highway, the traveled way of each of the separate roadways for traffic in opposite directions is a main-traveled way. It does not include such facilities as frontage roads, turning roadways, or parking areas.

(11)  "Maintain" means to allow to exist.

(12)  "Motorist services directional signs" means signs providing directional information about goods and services in the interest of the traveling public where such signs were lawfully erected and in existence on or before May 6, 1976, and continue to provide directional information to goods and services in a defined area.

(13)  "New highway" means the construction of any road, paved or unpaved, where no road previously existed or the act of paving any previously unpaved road.

(14)  "Nonconforming sign" means a sign which was lawfully erected but which does not comply with the land use, setback, size, spacing, and lighting provisions of state or local law, rule, regulation, or ordinance passed at a later date or a sign which was lawfully erected but which later fails to comply with state or local law, rule, regulation, or ordinance due to changed conditions.

(15)  "Premises" means all the land areas under ownership or lease arrangement to the sign owner which are contiguous to the business conducted on the land except for instances where such land is a narrow strip contiguous to the advertised activity or is connected by such narrow strip, the only viable use of such land is to erect or maintain an advertising sign. When the sign owner is a municipality or county, "premises" shall mean all lands owned or leased by such municipality or county within its jurisdictional boundaries as set forth by law.

(16)  "Remove" means to disassemble, transport from the site, and dispose of sign materials by sale or destruction.

(17)  "Sign" means any combination of structure and message in the form of an outdoor sign, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard, advertising structure, advertisement, logo, symbol, or other form, whether placed individually or on a V-type, back-to-back, side-to-side, stacked, or double-faced display or automatic changeable facing, designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform, any part of the advertising message or informative contents of which is visible from any place on the main-traveled way. The term does not include an official traffic control sign, official marker, or specific information panel erected, caused to be erected, or approved by the department.

(18)  "Sign direction" means that direction from which the message or informative contents are most visible to oncoming traffic on the main-traveled way.

(19)  "Sign face" means the part of the sign, including trim and background, which contains the message or informative contents.

(20)  "Sign facing" includes all sign faces and automatic changeable faces displayed at the same location and facing the same direction.

(21)  "Sign structure" means all the interrelated parts and material, such as beams, poles, and stringers, which are constructed for the purpose of supporting or displaying a message or informative contents.

(22)  "State Highway System" means the existing, unbuilt, or unopened system of highways or portions thereof designated as the State Highway System by the department.

(23)  "Unzoned commercial or industrial area" means a parcel of land designated by the future land use map of the comprehensive plan for multiple uses that include commercial or industrial uses but are not specifically designated for commercial or industrial uses under the land development regulations, in which three or more separate and distinct conforming industrial or commercial activities are located.

(a)  These activities must satisfy the following criteria:

1.  At least one of the commercial or industrial activities must be located on the same side of the highway and within 800 feet of the sign location;

2.  The commercial or industrial activities must be within 660 feet from the nearest edge of the right-of-way; and

3.  The commercial industrial activities must be within 1,600 feet of each other.

Distances specified in this paragraph must be measured from the nearest outer edge of the primary building or primary building complex when the individual units of the complex are connected by covered walkways.

(b)  Certain activities, including, but not limited to, the following, may not be so recognized as commercial or industrial activities:

1.  Signs.

2.  Agricultural, forestry, ranching, grazing, farming, and related activities, including, but not limited to, wayside fresh produce stands.

3.  Transient or temporary activities.

4.  Activities not visible from the main-traveled way.

5.  Activities conducted more than 660 feet from the nearest edge of the right-of-way.

6.  Activities conducted in a building principally used as a residence.

7.  Railroad tracks and minor sidings.

8.  Communication towers.

(24)  "Urban area" has the same meaning as defined in s. 334.03(32).

(25)  "Visible commercial or industrial activity" means a commercial or industrial activity that is capable of being seen without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity from the main-traveled way and that is generally recognizable as commercial or industrial.

(26)  "Visible sign" means that the advertising message or informative contents of a sign, whether or not legible, is capable of being seen without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity.

History.--s. 1, ch. 20446, 1941; s. 1, ch. 65-397; s. 5, ch. 67-461; ss. 23, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 175, ch. 71-377; s. 1, ch. 71-971; s. 1, ch. 75-202; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 1, ch. 77-457; s. 1, ch. 78-8; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 1, 25, 26, ch. 84-227; s. 6, ch. 90-136; s. 67, ch. 91-220; s. 4, ch. 91-429; ss. 6, 50, ch. 93-164; s. 32, ch. 94-237; ss. 37, 120, ch. 99-385; s. 28, ch. 2000-266.