HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4038        FILED ON: 1/7/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3860

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to outdoor advertising in the town of Weymouth..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 93: Section 30B:  Not withstanding any general law, special law or local ordinance to the contrary, a special commission is hereby established, comprised of members of the Outdoor Advertising Board, to study if billboards in the Town of Weymouth is deemed a nuisance or abandoned and recommend their removal.  This commission shall also examine the feasibility of establishing a fund, or the establishment of tax credits or incentives, designed to assist in the removal of said billboards.

Nuisance or Abandoned billboards will be defined as any billboard whose structure has not been properly maintained and/or may cause a public safety concern and any billboards whose sole purpose of advertising has not been used in more than 24 months. 

The commission shall submit a report to the Legislature as well as to the Town of Weymouth, as to which billboards have been deemed a public nuisance or abandoned.  If a billboard is deemed a nuisance or abandoned, the owner will have 60 days to deconstruct the billboard.  If the deconstruction of the billboard creates undo financial stress on the owner, the owner may apply for a grant, or tax credit, or other incentives deemed proper by said commission, if any are in existence.

The Town of Weymouth shall now be specifically designated as a sign free area in which no new Billboard permits shall be granted or in any way transferred to a new owner or licensee.