Section 1680-06-03-.02 - DEFINITIONS(1) "Abandoned outdoor advertising device" means any regulated outdoor advertising device that for a twelve-month period falls into one or more of the following classifications: (a) A device in substantial need of repair, which means that, in the case of wooden sign structures, sixty percent (60%) or more of the upright poles or supports of a sign structure are physically damaged such that normal repair practices would call for replacement of the broken supports or, in the case of metal sign structures, replacement of at least thirty percent (30%) of the length above ground of each broken, bent, or twisted support; provided, however, that a nonconforming device in a condition meeting these criteria will immediately be considered destroyed rather than abandoned;(b) A device whose sign face remains damaged fifty percent (50%) or more, or in the case of a device with multiple sign faces, each sign face that remains damaged fifty percent (50%) or more;(c) A device with a blank sign face (i.e., no advertising message), or in the case of a device with multiple sign faces, each sign face that remains blank; or(d) A device that has been removed and has not been reconstructed in its permitted location; provided, however, that a nonconforming device that has been removed will immediately be considered destroyed rather than abandoned.(e) The twelve-month period for establishing abandonment under subparagraphs (a)-(d) may be waived or suspended during a period of involuntary discontinuance, such as the closing of a highway for repair in front of the sign; provided, however, that the termination of the permit holder's lease, easement, or other right or permission for access from the landowner shall not be grounds for waiver of the twelve-month period for establishing abandonment. (See illustrations in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)
(2) "Adjacent area" means that area within six hundred sixty feet (660') along the nearest edge of the right-of-way of interstate and primary highways and visible from the main traveled way of the interstate or primary highways. (See Rule 1680-06-03-.03(1) for additional explanation regarding standards for measurement of the adjacent area.)(3) "Agreement" means the agreement entered into, pursuant to T.C.A. § 54-21-113, between the Department and the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, regarding the definition of unzoned commercial and industrial areas, and size, lighting, and spacing of certain outdoor advertising devices. (Copies of the original agreement, dated November 11, 1971, and the supplemental agreement, dated October 16, 1984, are included in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)(4) "Changeable message sign" means an outdoor advertising device that displays a series of messages at intervals by means of digital display or mechanical rotating panels.(5) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation or the Commissioner's designee.(6) "Compensation" means the exchange of anything of value, including money, securities, real property interests, personal property interests, goods or services, promise of future payment, or forbearance of debt.(7) "Comprehensive zoning" means a complete approach to land use within an entire political subdivision. For example, the mere placing of the label "Zoned Commercial or Industrial" as a land use classification for taxation purposes does not constitute comprehensive zoning. Comprehensive zoning requires the establishment of a complete set of regulations to govern the land use within the entire political subdivision.(8) "Conforming" means an outdoor advertising device that was permitted under and conforms to the zoning, size, lighting, and spacing criteria established in accordance with either the current supplemental agreement entered into between the Department and Federal Highway Administration on October 16, 1984, or the original agreement entered into on November 11, 1971, as authorized in § 54-21-113. Any permitted outdoor advertising device that continues to conform to either the current supplemental agreement or the original agreement and conditions provided in § 54-21-113 is considered conforming.(9) "Controlled access highway" means a divided highway with full control of access, including grade-separated interchanges rather than at-grade intersections, and with no permitted driveway entrances or exits from the main traveled way.(10) "Customary maintenance" means maintenance of a nonconforming outdoor advertising device, which may include, but shall not exceed, the replacement of the sign face and stringers in like materials, and the replacement in like materials of up to fifty percent (50%) of the device's poles, posts, or other support structures; provided, that the replacement of any poles, posts, or other support structures is limited to one (1) time within a twenty-four-month period. (See illustrations in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)(11) "Department" means the Tennessee Department of Transportation.(12) "Destroyed" means, with respect to a nonconforming outdoor advertising device, that, in the case of wooden sign structures, sixty percent (60%) or more of the upright poles or supports of a sign structure are physically damaged such that normal repair practices would call for replacement of the broken supports or, in the case of metal sign structures, replacement of at least thirty percent (30%) of the length above ground of each broken, bent, or twisted support. (See illustrations in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)(13) "Digital display" means a type of changeable message sign that displays a series of messages at intervals through the electronic coding of lights or light emitting diodes or any other means that does not use or require mechanical rotating panels.(14) "Directional sign" means a type of official sign that identifies a site, attraction, or activity and directional information useful to a traveler in locating the site, attraction, or activity, including mileage, route numbers, or exit numbers.(15) "Double-faced, back-to-back, or V-type sign" means those configurations or multiple outdoor advertising device structures, as those terms are commonly understood. In no instance shall these terms include two or more devices that are not physically contiguous or connected by the same structure or cross-bracing or, in the case of back-to-back or V-type signs, located more than fifteen feet (15') apart at their nearest points. (See illustrations in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)(16) "Erect" means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attain, create, paint, draw, or in any other way bring into being or establish, but does not apply to changes of copy treatment on an existing outdoor advertising device.(17) "Facility" means a commercial or industrial facility, or other facility open to public, that operates with regular business hours on a year-round basis within a building or defined physical space, which may include a structure other than a building, together with any immediately adjacent parking areas; provided, that activity conducted in a temporary structure or a structure operated only on a seasonal basis may be considered a facility for the purpose of allowing an on-premises device to be located on the same property, but the device is only allowed on a temporary basis during the period the facility is actually conducting activity.(18) "Information center" means an area or site established and maintained at a safety rest area for the purpose of informing the public of places of interest within this State and providing other information the Commissioner may consider desirable.(19) "Interstate system" means that portion of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways located within this State, as officially designated, or as may hereafter be so designated, by the Commissioner, and approved by the Secretary of Transportation of the United States, pursuant to Title 23 of the United States Code.(20) "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. "Main traveled way" does not include such facilities as frontage roads, turning roadways, or parking areas.(21) "Nonconforming" means an outdoor advertising device that was lawfully erected but does not conform to the zoning, size, lighting, or spacing criteria established by and in accordance with either the current supplemental agreement entered into between the Department and the Federal Highway Administration on October 16, 1984, or in accordance with the original agreement entered into on November 11, 1971, as authorized in T.C.A. § 54-21-113. Any outdoor advertising device that continues to conform to either the terms of the current supplemental agreement or the original agreement as provided in T.C.A. § 54-21-113 shall not be considered nonconforming.(22) "Official signs and notices" means signs and notices erected and maintained by public officers or public agencies within their territorial or zoning jurisdiction and pursuant to and in accordance with direction or authorization contained in federal, state, or local law for the purposes of carrying out an official duty or responsibility. Historical markers authorized by state law and erected by state or local government agencies or non-profit historical societies may be considered official signs.(23) "On-premises device" means a sign: (a) That is located within fifty feet (50') of, and on the same parcel of property and on the same side of the highway as, the facility (as defined above) that owns or operates the sign or within fifty feet (50') of, and on the same parcel of property and on the same side of the highway as, the entrance to the parcel of property upon which two (2) or more facilities are located; and(b) For which compensation is not being received and not intended to be received from a third party or parties for the placement of a message on the sign.(24) "Original conforming device" means a device that was legally permitted on or after April 4, 1972, in accordance with the original agreement entered into between the Department and the Federal Highway Administration on November 11, 1971, as authorized in T.C.A. § 54-21-113(a), and which remains in compliance with the zoning, size, lighting and spacing criteria established in the original agreement.(25) "Outdoor advertising device":(a) Means a sign that is operated or owned by a person or entity that is earning compensation directly or indirectly from a third party or parties for the placement of a message on the sign; and(b) Does not include a sign that is an on-premises device or other type of sign exempt from regulation under Title 54, Chapter 21, of the Tennessee Code; and(c) Does include any other sign the Department is required to regulate to provide for the effective control of outdoor advertising in accordance with 23 U.S.C. § 131 and as further provided in Title 54, Chapter 21, of the Tennessee Code.(26) "Person" means and includes an individual, a partnership, an association, a corporation, or other entity.(27) "Primary system" means that portion of connected main highways, located within this State, as officially designated, or as may be hereafter be so designated by the Commissioner, and approved by the Secretary of Transportation of the United States, pursuant to Title 23 of the United States Code, including highways designated as part of the national highway system and highways formerly designated as part of the federal-aid primary system.(28) "Public park" means any publicly owned land which is designated or used as a park, recreation area, wildlife or waterfowl refuge, or historic site.(29) "Safety rest area" means an area or site established and maintained within or adjacent to the right-of-way by or under public supervision or control, for the convenience of the traveling public.(30) "Scenic area" or "historic scenic area" means any area of particular scenic beauty or historical significance as determined by the federal, state, or local officials having jurisdiction thereof and includes interests in lands which have been acquired for the restoration, preservation, and enhancement of scenic beauty or historical resources.(31) "Sign" means an outdoor sign, light, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard, or other thing which is designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform and any part of the advertising or informative contents of which is visible from any place on the main traveled way of an interstate system or primary system; provided, however, that a building, structure, or object having a primary function at its location other than to advertise or inform will not be considered a "sign" solely because words or figures, etc., are displayed on its exterior surface, unless the owner or operator is earning compensation directly or indirectly from a third party or parties for the placement of any message on the exterior of the building, structure, or object, and provided that this exception shall not apply to any separate sign structure or sign face that is attached to the building, structure, or object.(32) "Sign face" means the entire area of a sign used for the display of outdoor advertising. This includes the area normally intended for the display of advertising messages, within and including the border and trim, measured by the smallest square, rectangle, triangle, or circle, or combination thereof, and it also includes any additional area or areas extending outside the normal sign face, within which any advertising embellishment or informative content is actually displayed. (See illustration in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)(33) "Stacked device" means an outdoor advertising device in which two (2) or more displays facing in the same direction of travel along the highway are stacked one (1) above the other in multiple sign faces separated by airspace and regulated together under one permit, as provided in T.C.A. § 54-21-118. (See illustration in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)(34) "State system" means that portion of highways located within this State, as officially designated, or as may hereafter be designated, as state highways by the Commissioner.(35) "Traveled way" means the portion of a roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders.(36) "Unzoned commercial or industrial area":(a) Means an area on which there is located one (1) or more permanent structures within which a commercial or industrial business is actively conducted, and which is equipped with all customary utilities facilities and open to the public regularly or regularly used by the employees of the business as their principle work station, or which, due to the nature of the business, is equipped, staffed, and accessible to the public as necessary, and includes the area along the highway extending outward six hundred feet (600') from and beyond the edge of such activity in each direction and a corresponding zone directly across a primary highway that is not also a controlled access highway when the area is not primarily residential in character or a:3. Public recreational area;4. Public forest, wildlife, or waterfowl refuge;5. Historic scenic area; or(b) Does not include land across the highway from a commercial or industrial activity when the highway is an interstate or controlled access primary highway;(c) Must be measured from the outer edges of the regularly used buildings, parking lots, storage, processing, or landscaped areas of the commercial or industrial activity, not from the property lines of the activity; and(d) Does not include the following activities conducted within the area, when considered for purposes of outdoor advertising:1. Outdoor advertising structures;2. Agricultural, forestry, ranching, grazing, farming, and related activities, including wayside fresh produce stands;3. Transient or temporary activities (i.e., activities that are not conducted, at least in part, within one or more permanent structures, or activities that are not conducted on a regular schedule for at least five (5) days per week over a continuous period of not less than ten (10) months within a calendar year);4. Activities not visible from the main traveled way;5. Activities more than six hundred and sixty feet (660') from the nearest edge of the right-of-way;6. Activities conducted in a building primarily used as a residence; and7. Railroad tracks and minor sidings.(e) The six hundred feet (600') shall be measured along the edge of the pavement nearest the commercial activity and from points that are perpendicular to the edge of pavement of the traveled way. (See illustration in Rule 1680-06-03-.09, Appendix.)(37) "Utility signs" means warning signs, notices, or markers that are customarily erected and maintained for operational and public safety purposes by publicly or privately owned utilities, railroads, ferries, airports, or other entities that provide utility or transportation services.(38) "Visible" means capable of being seen, whether or not readable, without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity.(39) "Voidable" means a status in which a permit is in violation of at least one requirement of these rules or governing statutes and eligible to be rendered void and the outdoor advertising device removed by a final administrative action.(40) "Zoned commercial or zoned industrial" means those areas in a comprehensively zoned political subdivision set aside for commercial or industrial use pursuant to the state or local zoning regulations, but shall not include strip zoning, spot zoning, or variances granted by the local political subdivision strictly for outdoor advertising.Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1680-06-03-.02
Transfer from chapter 1680-02-03 and amendments filed February 14, 2024; effective 5/14/2024.Authority: T.C.A. §§ 54-21-102, 54-21-103, 54-21-111, and 54-21-118.