Amendment ID: S2023-197
Amendment 197
MassDOT Outdoor Advertising Board
Mr. Petruccelli moves to amend the amendment by inserting, at the end, the following new section:-
Section XX: “Section 1: Chapter 6C of the general laws, as appearing in the 2012 official edition, is hereby further amended by inserting after section 10 the following section:-
“Section 10A. There shall be within the department an office of outdoor advertising, which shall oversee, administer, regulate and control, in the public interest, the erection and maintenance of billboards, signs or other advertising devices in accordance with state and federal law. The office shall be under the administration and supervision of a director who shall be an employee of the department. The director shall coordinate with other employees of the department to administer and oversee the erection and maintenance of billboards, signs or other advertising devices along public ways, and in enforcing the rules and regulations of the office. Whenever any action by the office is required to be in writing, such writing shall be sufficient when signed by the director. The director shall make an annual report for the preceding calendar year setting forth the total number of active outdoor advertising permits, annual receipts, new permit issuances, number of permits surrendered, permit transfer approvals, number of hearings held and other relevant matters to the administrator of the highway division.
The department may make, amend or repeal rules and regulations for the proper control and restriction of billboards, signs and other advertising devices on public ways or on private property within view of any public way, public park or reservation. Such rules and regulations may: require that said billboards, signs or other devices be located in business, commercial, industrial, marketing or mercantile areas, or on unrestricted commercial arteries and adjacent to commercial enterprises; prescribe standards of size, setback clearance and other criteria, considering the public interest; require said billboards, signs or other devices to be authorized by the department by the issuance of permits in accordance therewith and with this section; and prescribe permit fees and fines. Said fees need not be uniform throughout the commonwealth. No permit, whether permanent or temporary, for a billboard, sign or other advertising device shall be issued unless the applicant provides written notice of the application stating the proposed location to the city or town in which the proposed billboard, sign or other advertising device is to be located. The director shall have the authority to issue licenses or permits where no objection has been received to the pending application within 60 days of written notice of the application.
Except as hereinafter provided, before establishing or amending rules and regulations under this section, the department shall hold duly advertised public hearings in Boston and in such other cities and towns within the commonwealth as the department deems necessary or expedient. Cities and towns may further regulate and restrict said billboards, signs or other devices within their respective limits by ordinance or by-law.
Whenever, within 30 days after the permit applicant notifies the city or town, the director receives written objection to an application for a permit from said city or town and written notice of intention to appear in opposition to the application, the director may issue such permit only after a public meeting on due notice to the applicant and the city or town.
Any applicant for a permit, or any city or town wherein a permit was issued, who is aggrieved by the decision of the director with respect to the issuance or revocation of a license or permit for the erection or maintenance of a billboard, sign or other advertising device, may within 30 days thereafter, appeal from such decision to the department. The department shall conduct a hearing and may designate a hearing officer to hold said hearing, after due notice, to determine whether the decision will be affirmed, modified or annulled. The findings of the hearing officer shall be final, subject to the provisions of chapter 30A.
No person, firm, association or corporation shall post, erect, display or maintain on any public way or on private property within public view from any public way, public park or reservation any billboard or other advertising device which advertises or calls attention to any business, article, substance or any other thing, unless such billboard or device conforms to the rules and regulations and ordinances or by-laws established by the department; provided, that this section shall not apply to signs or other devices erected and maintained in conformity with law and which advertise or indicate either the entity which primarily occupies the premises in question or the principal activity or business transacted on-premise, or advertise the property itself or any part thereof as for sale or to let and which contain no other advertising matter.
Any billboard, sign or other device erected without the authorization or permit of the office, or any predecessor thereto, in cases where such authorization or permit is required, or maintained in violation of any rule or regulation of the department, shall be deemed a nuisance. The director of the shall have the same power to abate and remove any such nuisance as is given the board of health of a town under sections 123 to 125, inclusive, of chapter 111, and the provisions of said sections shall, so far as applicable, apply in the case of a nuisance as herein defined. The remedy herein provided shall be in addition to any other remedy provided by law.
The supreme judicial and superior courts shall have jurisdiction in equity upon the petition of the department, the attorney general, of any city or town or any officer thereof, or of any interested party, to restrain the erection or maintenance of any billboard, sign or other advertising device erected or maintained in violation of any rule, or regulation, or any provisions of this chapter and to order the removal or abatement of such billboard, sign or outdoor advertising device as a nuisance.
This section shall not apply to signs or other devices on or in rolling stock of any common carrier nor shall they apply to signs or other devices which are not displayed within view of a public way.
Whoever violates any provision of this section, chapter 93D or any rule, regulation, ordinance or by-law established or adopted shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000 per day following the receipt of notice of said violation. ”