Outdoor Advertising Act

The act makes a number of modifications to the "Outdoor Advertising Act", including the following:

• Removing distinctions in the "Outdoor Advertising Act" based on the information on an advertising device, in order to create a content-neutral test for applying the "Outdoor Advertising Act";
• Modifying the regulation by the "Outdoor Advertising Act" of advertising devices with a message center display, so that such devices may not be placed within 1,000 feet of each other on the same side of a highway and facing the same direction of travel;
• Revising the permitting system under the "Outdoor Advertising Act" to establish a timeline for the issuance of a permit or the rejection of a permit application and to create a process to appeal the denial of a permit application;
• Allowing a property owner to maintain a potential advertising device on their property without a permit, if the property owner executes an affidavit attesting that the potential advertising device is not an advertising device as defined under the "Outdoor Advertising Act";
• Modifying the enforcement provisions in the "Outdoor Advertising Act" to remove the current misdemeanor penalty for violations of the act and to ensure that the Colorado department of transportation has the authority to seek a court order enjoining violations of the "Outdoor Advertising Act";
• Removing exceptions from the "Outdoor Advertising Act" that allow the erection of new advertising devices along state highways designated as scenic byways by the transportation commission; and
• No longer allowing on-premise advertising devices to extend over the existing and future right-of-ways of any state highway.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)