479.105 Signs erected or maintained without required permit; removal.—
(1) A sign that is located adjacent to the right-of-way of any highway on the State Highway System outside an incorporated area or adjacent to the right-of-way on any portion of the interstate or federal-aid primary highway system, which sign was erected, operated, or maintained without the permit required by s. 479.07(1) having been issued by the department, is declared to be a public nuisance and a private nuisance and shall be removed as provided in this section.
(a) Upon a determination by the department that a sign is in violation of s. 479.07(1), the department shall prominently post on the sign, or as close to the sign as possible for a location in which the sign is not easily accessible, a notice stating that the sign is illegal and must be removed within 30 days after the date on which the notice was posted. The department shall, concurrently with and in addition to posting the notice on the sign, provide a written notice to the owner of the sign, the advertiser displayed on the sign, or the owner of the property, stating that the sign is illegal and must be permanently removed within the 30-day period specified on the posted notice. The written notice shall further state that a hearing may be requested and that the request must be filed with the department within 30 days after receipt of the written notice. However, the filing of a request for a hearing will not stay the removal of the sign.
(b) If, pursuant to the notice provided, the sign is not removed by the owner of the sign, the advertiser displayed on the sign, or the owner of the property within the prescribed period, the department shall immediately remove the sign without further notice; and, for that purpose, the employees, agents, or independent contractors of the department may enter upon private property without incurring any liability for so entering.
(c) However, the department may issue a permit for a sign, as a conforming or nonconforming sign, if the sign owner demonstrates to the department one of the following:
1. If the sign meets the current requirements of this chapter for a sign permit, the sign owner may submit the required application package and receive a permit as a conforming sign, upon payment of all applicable fees.
2. If the sign does not meet the current requirements of this chapter for a sign permit and has never been exempt from the requirement that a permit be obtained, the sign owner may receive a permit as a nonconforming sign if the department determines that the sign is not located on state right-of-way and is not a safety hazard, and if the sign owner pays a penalty fee of $300 and all pertinent fees required by this chapter, including annual permit renewal fees payable since the date of the erection of the sign, and attaches to the permit application package documentation that demonstrates that:
a. The sign has been unpermitted, structurally unchanged, and continuously maintained at the same location for 7 years or more;
b. During the initial 7 years in which the sign has been subject to the jurisdiction of the department, the sign would have met the criteria established in this chapter which were in effect at that time for issuance of a permit; and
c. The department has not initiated a notice of violation or taken other action to remove the sign during the initial 7-year period in which the sign has been subject to the jurisdiction of the department.
(d) This subsection does not cause a neighboring sign that is permitted and that is within the spacing requirements under s. 479.07(9)(a) to become nonconforming.
(e) For purposes of this subsection, a notice to the sign owner, when required, constitutes sufficient notice. Notice is not required to be provided to the lessee, advertiser, or the owner of the real property on which the sign is located.
(f) If, after a hearing, it is determined that a sign has been wrongfully or erroneously removed pursuant to this subsection, the department, at the sign owner’s discretion, shall either pay just compensation to the owner of the sign or reerect the sign in kind at the expense of the department.
(2)(a) If a sign is under construction and the department determines that a permit has not been issued for the sign as required under this chapter, the department may require that all work on the sign cease until the sign owner shows that the sign does not violate this chapter. The order to cease work shall be prominently posted on the sign structure, and further notice is not required. The failure of a sign owner or her or his agents to immediately comply with the order subjects the sign to prompt removal by the department.
(b) For the purposes of this subsection only, a sign is under construction when it is in any phase of initial construction before the attachment and display of the advertising message in final position for viewing by the traveling public. A sign that is undergoing routine maintenance or change of the advertising message only is not considered to be under construction for the purposes of this subsection.
(3) The cost of removing a sign by the department or an independent contractor shall be assessed against the owner of the sign by the department.
...of the DOT held in the order on review that: [B]ecause the subject sign is immediately adjacent to Interstate 95, visible from the main-traveled way of Interstate 95 and erected without a permit, the subject *1088 sign should be removed pursuant to Section 479.105(1), Fla....
...2445, 129 L.Ed.2d 497 (1994). In contrast, a regulation which imposes a burden on speech without reference to the ideas or viewpoints expressed in the speech is, in a majority of instances, content-neutral. See id. Except for exemptions under sections 479.105(1)(e) [1] and 479.16, Florida Statutes (2001), section 479.07(1), Florida Statutes (2001), requires a permit before erecting any sign on the State Highway System, of which Interstate 95 is a part....
...sible prior restraint on speech nor do these regulations improperly restrict commercial speech. Accordingly, sections 479.07 and 479.08 and rules 14-10.004 and 14-10.006 are facially constitutional. AFFIRMED. MINER and BENTON, JJ., CONCUR. NOTES [1] Section 479.105(1)(e) grandfathers signs which were unpermitted, structurally unchanged and continuously maintained at the same location for seven years or more....
...Maxine F. Ferguson and Thomas H. Bateman, III, Tallahassee, for appellee. RYDER, Judge. This is an appeal from a final order of the Department of Transportation (DOT) holding that appellant's business establishment sign was erected in violation of section 479.105 and section 479.02(1), Florida Statutes (1987), and ordering the sign's removal....
...sign property. Appellant had not, however, begun construction of the playground. After reviewing the case, the hearing officer held: Section 479.07, Florida Statutes, prohibits the erection of signs on the interstate highway system without a permit; Section 479.105 provides for the removal of signs which require permits and do not have same; and Section 479.02 authorizes the Department of Transportation to regulate the spacing of signs on the interstate system....
Cited 1 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 317, 1985 Fla. LEXIS 3485
ORDER PER CURIAM. The amended order of the trial court is reversed and subsections 479.105(1) and (3), Florida Statutes (Supp.1984), are declared to be constitutional both on their face and as applied to appellees....
...An opinion of this Court will follow. It is so ordered. BOYD, C.J., and OVERTON, ALDERMAN, MCDONALD, EHRLICH and SHAW, JJ., concur. ADKINS, J., dissents. OPINION ALDERMAN, Justice. The Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit in its amended order held subsections 479.105(1) and (3), Florida Statutes (Supp.1984), to be unconstitutional....
...ucted without the requisite sign permits, in violation of section 479.07(1), Florida Statutes (Supp.1984). Appellees then requested a hearing pursuant to chapter 120. On January 4, 1985, the Department posted the sign faces with a notice pursuant to section 479.105(l)(a), Florida Statutes (Supp.1984), stating that the signs were illegal and would be removed thirty days after posting, notwithstanding the pendency of the administrative hearings....
...An administrative hearing was held on January 15, 1985, and an order recommending removal of the unpermitted signs was issued on March 27, 1985. Appellees then filed a complaint in the circuit court for injunctive and declaratory relief challenging the validity of section 479.105, Florida Statutes (Supp.1984), which allows the removal of illegal advertising signs even if an administrative hearing had been requested. The trial court, in its amended order, held that subsections (1) and (3) of section 479.105 on their face and as applied to appellees violate article I, section 9, because “these subsections deny them an opportunity to be heard and the right to an orderly determination of whether appellees’ signs are properly subject to...
...In denying and dismissing the County’s count for injunctive relief, the trial court specifically found that the: County cannot demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits given the fact that it is likely that the County does not have standing pursuant to section 479.105(1)[, Florida Statutes]....
...Section 33-121.15 of the Code, provides that "[n]o variances shall be granted through provisions of applicable regulation which will in any way conflict with or vary the provisions of this division.” Miami-Dade County, Fla., Code of Ordinances, Ch. 33, § 33-121-15. . Section 479.105(1) provides: Any sign which is located adjacent to the right-of-way of any highway on the State Highway System outside an incorporated area or adjacent to the right-of-way on any portion of the interstate or federal-aid primary highway system, which sign was erected, operated, or maintained without the permit required by s. 479.07(1) having been issued by the department, is declared to be a public nuisance and a private nuisance and shall be removed as provided in this section. § 479.105(1), Fla....
...the 1500-foot spacing requirement provided in Section 479.07(9)(a)(l), Florida Statutes (1989), and Florida Administrative Code Rule 14-10.-006(l)(b)(4), they were therefore illegal, and appellant was required to remove the signs in accordance with Section 479.105, Florida Statutes (1989)....
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