Oklahoma Statutes
Title 69. Roads Bridges and Ferries
§69-1273. Definitions.

As used in Section 1271 et seq. of this title:

(a) "Sign", "outdoor advertising" or "outdoor advertising device" means any outdoor sign, display, device, notice, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard or other thing which is designed, intended or used to advertise or inform, but shall not include surface markers showing the location or route of underground utility facilities or pipelines or public telephone coin stations installed for emergency use.
(b) "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 separated 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.
(c) "To erect" and its variants means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw or in any other way bring into being or establish. But these shall not include any of the foregoing activities when performed as incident to the change of advertising message or customary maintenance of the sign structure.
(d) "Unzoned commercial or industrial areas" means those areas which are not zoned by state or local law, regulation or ordinance, and on which there is located one or more permanent structures devoted to a commercial or industrial activity or on which a commercial or industrial activity is actually conducted, whether or not a permanent structure is located thereon, and the area along the highway extending outward six hundred (600) feet from and beyond the edge of such activity on both sides of the highway. Provided however, the unzoned area shall not include land on the opposite side of an interstate or dual-laned limited access primary highway from the commercial or industrial activity establishing the unzoned commercial or industrial area or land on the opposite side of other federal-aid primary highways, which land is deemed scenic by an appropriate agency of the state.
All measurements shall be from the outer edges of the regularly used buildings, parking lots, storage or processing areas of the commercial or industrial activities, not from the property lines of the activities, and shall be along or parallel to the edge of pavement of the highway. Such an area shall not include any area which is beyond six hundred sixty (660) feet from the nearest edge of the right-of-way. In unzoned commercial or industrial areas signs shall not be located:
All spacing considerations are determined by whether or not they exist within the adjacent or control area.
(e) "Commercial and industrial activities" means those activities, clearly visible from the main traveled way, generally recognized as commercial or industrial by zoning authorities in this state, except that none of the following shall be considered commercial or industrial:
(f) "Official signs" means signs and notices erected and maintained by public officers or public agencies within their territorial jurisdiction and pursuant to and in accordance with direction or authorization contained in federal or state law for the purposes of carrying out an official duty or responsibility.
(g) "Informational signs" means signs containing directions or information about public places owned or operated by federal, state or local governments or their agencies, publicly or privately owned natural phenomena, historic, cultural, educational and religious sites, and areas of natural scenic beauty or naturally suited for outdoor recreation, deemed to be in the interest of the traveling public.
(h) "On-premise activities signs" means signs advertising activities conducted upon the property on which the signs are located.
(i) "On-premise sale or lease signs" means signs advertising the sale or lease of property on which they are located.
(j) "Interstate highway" means any highway at any time officially designated a part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways by the Department and approved by the appropriate authority of the federal government.
(k) "Primary highway" means the Federal-aid Primary System in existence on June 1, 1991, and any highway which is not on that system but is on the National Highway System.
(l) "Centerline of the highway" means a line equidistant from the edges of the median separating the main traveled ways of a divided highway, or the centerline of the main traveled way of a nondivided highway.
(m) "Adjacent area" or "control area" means the area which is adjacent to and within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way on any interstate or primary highway within urban areas, which six hundred sixty-foot distance shall be measured horizontally along a line perpendicular to, or ninety (90) degrees to, the centerline of the highway. Outside of urban areas, adjacent area or control area means the area which is visible from the main traveled way on any interstate or primary highway.
(n) "Business area" means any part of a control area which is:
(o) "Department" means the Department of Transportation of the State of Oklahoma.
(p) "Maintain" means to hold or keep in a state of efficiency or validity, to support or sustain, by cleaning or repairing the sign or changing the message on its face.
(q) "Visible" means capable of being seen without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity.
(r) "License" means the privilege to do business in the State of Oklahoma having been granted by an official agency.
(s) "Permit" means the privilege to erect a sign or signs in an individual location within the State of Oklahoma having been granted by an official agency.
(t) "License fee" means the monetary consideration paid for the privilege of doing business in the State of Oklahoma.
(u) "Permit fee" means the monetary consideration paid for the privilege of erecting a sign or signs in a specific location within the State of Oklahoma.
(v) "Urban area" means an urbanized area or, in the case of an urbanized area encompassing more than one state, that part of the urbanized area in each such state, or an urban place as designated by the Bureau of the Census having a population of five thousand (5,000) or more and not within any urbanized area, within boundaries to be fixed by responsible state and local officials in cooperation with each other, subject to approval by the Secretary of Transportation. Such boundaries shall, as a minimum, encompass the entire urban place designated by the Bureau of the Census.
(w) "Relocation permit" means a permit issued pursuant to the provisions of subparagraph (d) of paragraph (3) of Section 1275 of this title. A relocation permit shall have precedence over any municipal or county restriction that interferes with the intended purpose of providing a method and opportunity to minimize the cost of acquiring legally erected outdoor advertising signs by the Department; provided, however, for those municipalities with a population in excess of five hundred thousand (500,000) based on the most recent census data, neither a relocation permit nor any outdoor advertising sign permit shall be issued in those areas in which a municipality or county has lawfully enacted a prohibition on the erection of an outdoor advertising sign. This section shall not prohibit a registered sign owner from seeking just compensation through a legal proceeding.
Added by Laws 1968, c. 191, § 3, emerg. eff. April 15, 1968. Amended by Laws 1970, c. 10, § 1, emerg. eff. Feb. 10, 1970; Laws 1972, c. 240, § 2, emerg. eff. March 28, 1972; Laws 1978, c. 199, § 3, emerg. eff. April 14, 1978; Laws 2009, c. 96, § 1, emerg. eff. April 24, 2009; Laws 2014, c. 269, § 1; Laws 2015, c. 379, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2015; Laws 2016, c. 350, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2016; Laws 2021, c. 8, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2021.

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