5490. (a) This chapter applies only to lawfully erected on-premises
advertising displays.
(b) As used in this chapter, "on-premises advertising displays"
means any structure, housing, sign, device, figure, statuary,
painting, display, message placard, or other contrivance, or any part
thereof, that has been designed, constructed, created, intended, or
engineered to have a useful life of 15 years or more, and intended or
used to advertise, or to provide data or information in the nature
of advertising, for any of the following purposes:
(1) To designate, identify, or indicate the name or business of
the owner or occupant of the premises upon which the advertising
display is located.
(2) To advertise the business conducted, services available or
rendered, or the goods produced, sold, or available for sale, upon
the property where the advertising display has been lawfully erected.
(c) As used in this chapter, "introduced or adopted prior to March
12, 1983," means an ordinance or other regulation of a city or
county which was officially presented before, formally read and
announced by, or adopted by the legislative body prior to March 12,
1983.
(d) This chapter does not apply to advertising displays used
exclusively for outdoor advertising pursuant to the Outdoor
Advertising Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5200)).
(e) As used in this chapter, illegal advertising displays do not
include legally erected, but nonconforming, displays for which the
applicable amortization period has not expired.
(f) As used in this chapter, "abandoned advertising display" means
any display remaining in place or not maintained for a period of 90
days which no longer advertises or identifies an ongoing business,
product, or service available on the business premise where the
display is located.
(g) (1) For the purpose of this chapter, an on-premises
advertising display that is located within the boundaries of a
development project, as defined by Section 65928 of the Government
Code, that identifies the name of the development project, its
business logo, or the goods, wares, and services existing or
available within the development project, shall continue to be deemed
an on-premise advertising display regardless of any of the following
occurrences:
(A) The creation or construction, in or about the project, of a
common parking area, driveway, thruway, alley, passway, public or
private street, roadway, overpass, divider, connector, or easement
intended for ingress or egress, regardless of where or when created
or constructed, and whether or not created or constructed by the
project developer or its successor, or by reason of government
regulation or condition.
(B) The sale, transfer, or conveyance of an individual lot,
parcel, or parcels less than the whole, within the development
project.
(C) The sale, transfer, conveyance, or change of name or
identification of a business within the development project.
(D) The subdivision of the parcel that includes the development
project in accordance with the Subdivision Map Act (Division 2
(commencing with Section 66410) of Title 7 of the Government Code).
(2) This subdivision shall not be applicable in any case in which
its application would result in a loss of federal highway funds by
the State of California.
(3) This subdivision applies to all counties and general law or
charter cities.
5490.5. (a) For purposes of this chapter, "message center" is an
advertising display where the message is changed more than once every
two minutes, but no more than once every four seconds.
(b) On-premise message centers visible to traffic from any
interstate or primary highway shall meet all of the following
requirements:
(1) The display may not include any message that is in motion or
appears to be in motion.
(2) The display may not change the intensity of illumination.
(3) The display may not change the message more than once every
four seconds.
5491. Notwithstanding any provision of Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 5200), except as provided in this chapter, no on-premises
advertising display which is used for any of the purposes set forth
and conforming to Section 5490 shall be compelled to be removed or
abated, and its customary maintenance, use, or repair shall not be
limited, whether or not removal or limitation is required because of
any ordinance or regulation of any city or county, without the
payment of fair and just compensation.
5491.1. (a) Any city or county adopting or amending any ordinance
or regulation that regulates or prohibits the use of any on-premises
advertising display that is more restrictive than existing law, shall
include provisions in that ordinance or regulation for the
identification and inventorying of all displays within its
territorial limits that are determined to be illegal or abandoned
pursuant to the law that is in effect prior to the adoption of, or
amendment to, the ordinance or regulation.
(b) The required identification and inventory shall commence not
later than 120 days from the date on which the ordinance or
regulation is adopted or amended and shall be completed in a timely
manner. The population of the city or county, as determined by the
most recent federal census, the number of on-premise advertising
displays located within the city or county, and other relevant
factors may serve as a guide for the purposes of determining what
constitutes "a timely manner" for the purposes of this subdivision.
(c) (1) Upon the completion of the required identification and
inventory, the city or county shall consider, at a public hearing
with opportunity for public comment, whether there is a need for the
ordinance or regulation described in subdivision (a) to take effect.
(2) (A) Any applicable amortization schedule for the ordinance or
regulation adopted or amended pursuant to this section shall not
expire until at least six months after the date on which the city or
county confirms, pursuant to paragraph (1), that there is a
continuing need for that ordinance or regulation to take effect,
unless the amortization period specified in the ordinance is for a
longer term, in which case the remaining term shall apply.
(B) Until the city or county provides, pursuant to paragraph (1),
that there is a continuing need for the ordinance or regulation to
take effect, the new ordinance shall not apply to a change of copy,
change of color, maintenance, or repair made to a sign which
conformed to the prior ordinance unless those changes, maintenance,
or repairs involve a change in location or structure of the sign.
(d) An identification and inventory is not required if a city or
county has undertaken and completed an identification and inventory
of illegal or abandoned displays not more than three years prior to
the date on which the ordinance or regulation described in
subdivision (a) is adopted or amended.
(e) This section does not apply if a city or county adopts or
amends an ordinance or regulation that regulates only new on-premises
advertising displays. For the purposes of this section, a "new
on-premises advertising display" means a display whose structure or
housing has not been permanently affixed to its intended premise on
the date on which the ordinance or regulation is adopted.
5491.2. (a) A city or county may impose reasonable fees upon all
owners or lessees of on-premises business advertising displays for
the purpose of covering its actual cost of inventorying and
identifying illegal or abandoned advertising displays which are
within its jurisdiction. A city or county may exempt from the payment
of these fees the owner of a display identifying an achievement
award, the name of a farm, or the name of a business for which the
farm produces, if the display is located on an operating farm within
an agricultural preserve established pursuant to the Williamson Act
(Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 51200) of Part 1 of Division 1 of
Title 5 of the Government Code), and if the city or county finds
that the exemption will further the purposes of the agricultural
preserve.
(b) The actual cost to the city or county may be fixed upon a
determination of the total estimated reasonable cost. The amount of
that cost and the fee to be charged is exclusively within the
discretion of the city or county.
5492. For purposes of compliance with Section 5491, fair and just
compensation is presumed to be paid upon the payment of the fair
market value of the on-premises advertising display as of the date
written notice is given to the owner of the display requiring
conformance or removal thereof.
Fair market value consists of the actual cost of removal for the
display, the actual cost to repair any damage caused to the real
property or improvements thereon as a result of the removal of the
display, and the actual cost to duplicate the advertising display
required to be removed as of the date written notice requiring
removal for nonconformance is given to the owner by the governmental
body requiring conformance or removal.
5493. (a) As an alternative to payment of fair and just
compensation under Section 5492, a city or county may pay fair and
just compensation to the owner of the on-premises advertising display
by paying the actual replacement cost to the owner for an
on-premises advertising display which shall conform with the laws in
effect that are applicable to the owner's business premises, and
shall include, as part of the actual replacement cost, the actual
cost for removal of the nonconforming on-premises advertising display
and the actual cost of the repair to the real property caused by the
removal of the display.
(b) The sum payable as fair and just compensation to the owner of
any on-premises advertising display shall be the greater of the two
methods provided in subdivision (a) of this section or Section 5492
as the basis for fair and just compensation. In any event, before any
on-premises advertising display is required to be removed, the fair
and just compensation required by subdivision (a) of this section or
Section 5492 shall be paid.
5494. The ordinances and regulations of any city or county,
introduced or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which have provided
for amortization, and which make nonconforming any lawfully in place
erected on-premises advertising displays, shall not be subject to
Section 5491.
(a) All on-premises advertising displays which become
nonconforming as a result of any such ordinance or regulation are
presumed illegal once the amortization period provided by the
ordinance or regulation rendering them nonconforming has lapsed and
conformance has not been accomplished.
(b) If property containing on-premises advertising displays is
annexed to a city or county which introduced or adopted, prior to
March 12, 1983, an ordinance regulating on-premises advertising
displays, the city or county may apply its ordinance or regulation to
the annexed property, and the display shall be deemed illegal upon
expiration of any applicable amortization provided by such ordinance
or regulation. The amortization period is deemed to commence in such
event upon the date of annexation.
(c) When amortization has not been provided in any applicable
preexisting ordinance, annexed nonconforming displays ordered to
conform to ordinances or regulations of any city or county shall be
subject to the requirements of Section 5491.
(d) Amendments or modifications to ordinances or regulations of
any city or county adopted prior to March 12, 1983, including
amendments which require removal of additional displays or displays
which had previously been made conforming, shall be subject to the
requirements of Section 5491 if such amendment or modification makes
the ordinance being amended or modified more restrictive or
prohibitive.
(e) Ordinances or regulations of any city or county introduced or
adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which have terminated or will
terminate, may be reenacted and are not subject to Section 5491 if
reenacted within 12 months of their termination, and if upon
reenactment they are not made more restrictive or prohibitive than
the preexisting ordinance or regulation.
5495. A city or county whose ordinances or regulations are
introduced or adopted after March 12, 1983, and any amendments or
modifications to those ordinances and regulations, are not in
violation of Section 5491 if the entity elects to require the removal
without compensation of any on-premise advertising display which
meets all of the following requirements:
(a) The display is located within an area shown as residential or
agricultural on a local general plan as of the date the display was
lawfully erected.
(b) The display is located within an area zoned for residential or
agricultural use on the date the display was lawfully erected.
(c) The display is not required to be removed because of an
overlay zone, combining zone, special sign zone, or any other special
zoning district whose primary purpose is the removal or control of
advertising displays.
(d) The display is allowed to remain in existence after March 12,
1983, for a period of 15 years from the date of adoption of the
ordinance or regulation. For purposes of this section, every sign has
a useful life of 15 years. Fair and just compensation for signs
required to be removed during the 15-year period and before the
amortization period has lapsed shall be entitled to fair and just
compensation which is equal to 1/15 of the duplication cost of
construction of the display being removed multiplied by the number of
years of useful life remaining for the sign as determined by this
section.
5495.5. A city or county with an ordinance or regulation introduced
or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which is applicable to
designated areas within the city or county less than the entire city
or county is not in violation of Section 5491 for an ordinance or
regulation introduced or adopted on or after March 12, 1983, even
though it requires removal of on-premises advertising displays in
additional portions of the city or county, if the city or county
adopts not more than two such ordinances or regulations on or after
March 12, 1983, and if the total effect of the ordinance, or
regulation is to apply to less than the entire city or county, and
such new ordinance or regulation provides reasonable amortization for
conformance. "Reasonable amortization," for purposes of this
section, shall not be less than 15 years from the date each such
ordinance or regulation was adopted. If these conditions are not met,
the city or county is subject to Section 5491 with respect to all
those ordinances and regulations.
5496. A city or county, whose ordinances or regulations are
otherwise in full compliance with Section 5491 is not in violation of
that section if it elects to deactivate, without compensation, any
flashing or rotating features of the on-premises advertising display,
unless the flashing or rotating feature of the display has
historical significance.
5497. A city or county, whose ordinances or regulations were
introduced or adopted after March 12, 1983, or any amendments to
those ordinances and regulations, is not in violation of Section 5491
if it elects to require the removal, without compensation, of any
on-premise advertising display which meets any of the following
criteria:
(a) Any advertising display erected without first complying with
all ordinances and regulations in effect at the time of its
construction and erection or use.
(b) Any advertising display which was lawfully erected anywhere in
this state, but whose use has ceased, or the structure upon which
the display has been abandoned by its owner, for a period of not less
than 90 days. Costs incurred in removing an abandoned display may be
charged to the legal owner.
(c) Any advertising display which has been more than 50 percent
destroyed, and the destruction is other than facial copy replacement,
and the display cannot be repaired within 30 days of the date of its
destruction.
(d) Any advertising display whose owner, outside of a change of
copy, requests permission to remodel and remodels that advertising
display, or expand or enlarge the building or land use upon which the
advertising display is located, and the display is affected by the
construction, enlargement, or remodeling, or the cost of
construction, enlargement, or remodeling of the advertising display
exceeds 50 percent of the cost of reconstruction of the building.
(e) Any advertising display whose owner seeks relocation thereof
and relocates the advertising display.
(f) Any advertising display for which there has been an agreement
between the advertising display owner and the city or county, for its
removal as of any given date.
(g) Any advertising display which is temporary.
(h) Any advertising display which is or may become a danger to the
public or is unsafe.
(i) Any advertising display which constitutes a traffic hazard not
created by relocation of streets or highways or by acts of any city
or county.
(j) Ordinances adopted by a city within three years of its
incorporation, which incorporation occurs after March 12, 1982, shall
not be subject to Section 5491 except as provided by Section 5494.
(k) Notwithstanding subdivision (j), for any city or county
incorporated after January 1, 1989, an ordinance initially adopted
within three years of incorporation, or any amendment thereto within
that three-year period, may require removal without compensation,
except that no removal without compensation may be required within 15
years from the effective date of that ordinance or amendment.
5498. (a) Sections 5491 and 5495 do not apply to redevelopment
project areas created pursuant to the Community Redevelopment Law
(Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000) of Division 24 of the Health
and Safety Code), planned commercial districts, or to areas listed or
eligible for listing on the National Register of Historical Places,
or areas registered by the Department of Parks and Recreation as a
state historical landmark or point of historical interest pursuant to
Section 5021 of the Public Resources Code, or areas created as
historic zones or individually designated properties by a city or
county, pursuant to Article 12 (commencing with Section 50280) of
Chapter 1 of Division 1 of Title 5 of the Government Code.
(b) As used in this section, "planned commercial districts" means
areas subject to binding agreements, including, but not limited to,
conditions, covenants, restrictions, which do all of the following:
(1) Affect on-premise advertising displays.
(2) Are at least as restrictive as any ordinance of a city or
county, which affects on-premise advertising displays at the time the
agreement was entered into.
(3) Contain a binding financing commitment sufficient to carry out
the agreements.
5498.1. A city or county may not deny, refuse to issue, or
condition the issuance of a business license or a permit to construct
a new legal on-premises advertising display upon the removal,
conformance, repair, modification, or abatement of any other
on-premises advertising display on the same real property where the
business is to be or has been maintained if both of the following
apply:
(a) The other display is located within the same commercial
complex which is zoned for commercial occupancy or use, but at a
different business location from that for which the permit or license
is sought.
(b) The other display is not owned or controlled by the permit
applicant, and the permit applicant is not the agent of the person
who owns or controls the other display.
5498.2. (a) During the amortization period for a nonconforming
legally in place on-premises advertising display's continued use, a
city or county may not deny, refuse to issue, or condition the
issuance of a permit for modification or alteration to the display
upon change of ownership of any existing business if the modification
or alteration does not include a structural change in the display.
(b) Subdivision (a) of this section does not apply to any
ordinance introduced or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, or adopted
pursuant to subdivision (j) of Section 5497, if the ordinance
contains no specific amortization schedule, but instead requires
conformity upon change of ownership.
5499. Regardless of any other provision of this chapter or other
law, no city or county shall require the removal of any on-premises
advertising display on the basis of its height or size by requiring
conformance with any ordinance or regulation introduced or adopted on
or after March 12, 1983, if special topographic circumstances would
result in a material impairment of visibility of the display or the
owner's or user's ability to adequately and effectively continue to
communicate with the public through the use of the display. Under
these circumstances, the owner or user may maintain the advertising
display at the business premises and at a location necessary for
continued public visibility at the height or size at which the
display was previously erected and, in doing so, the owner or user is
in conformance.
5490. (a) This chapter applies only to lawfully erected on-premises
advertising displays.
(b) As used in this chapter, "on-premises advertising displays"
means any structure, housing, sign, device, figure, statuary,
painting, display, message placard, or other contrivance, or any part
thereof, that has been designed, constructed, created, intended, or
engineered to have a useful life of 15 years or more, and intended or
used to advertise, or to provide data or information in the nature
of advertising, for any of the following purposes:
(1) To designate, identify, or indicate the name or business of
the owner or occupant of the premises upon which the advertising
display is located.
(2) To advertise the business conducted, services available or
rendered, or the goods produced, sold, or available for sale, upon
the property where the advertising display has been lawfully erected.
(c) As used in this chapter, "introduced or adopted prior to March
12, 1983," means an ordinance or other regulation of a city or
county which was officially presented before, formally read and
announced by, or adopted by the legislative body prior to March 12,
1983.
(d) This chapter does not apply to advertising displays used
exclusively for outdoor advertising pursuant to the Outdoor
Advertising Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5200)).
(e) As used in this chapter, illegal advertising displays do not
include legally erected, but nonconforming, displays for which the
applicable amortization period has not expired.
(f) As used in this chapter, "abandoned advertising display" means
any display remaining in place or not maintained for a period of 90
days which no longer advertises or identifies an ongoing business,
product, or service available on the business premise where the
display is located.
(g) (1) For the purpose of this chapter, an on-premises
advertising display that is located within the boundaries of a
development project, as defined by Section 65928 of the Government
Code, that identifies the name of the development project, its
business logo, or the goods, wares, and services existing or
available within the development project, shall continue to be deemed
an on-premise advertising display regardless of any of the following
occurrences:
(A) The creation or construction, in or about the project, of a
common parking area, driveway, thruway, alley, passway, public or
private street, roadway, overpass, divider, connector, or easement
intended for ingress or egress, regardless of where or when created
or constructed, and whether or not created or constructed by the
project developer or its successor, or by reason of government
regulation or condition.
(B) The sale, transfer, or conveyance of an individual lot,
parcel, or parcels less than the whole, within the development
project.
(C) The sale, transfer, conveyance, or change of name or
identification of a business within the development project.
(D) The subdivision of the parcel that includes the development
project in accordance with the Subdivision Map Act (Division 2
(commencing with Section 66410) of Title 7 of the Government Code).
(2) This subdivision shall not be applicable in any case in which
its application would result in a loss of federal highway funds by
the State of California.
(3) This subdivision applies to all counties and general law or
charter cities.
5490.5. (a) For purposes of this chapter, "message center" is an
advertising display where the message is changed more than once every
two minutes, but no more than once every four seconds.
(b) On-premise message centers visible to traffic from any
interstate or primary highway shall meet all of the following
requirements:
(1) The display may not include any message that is in motion or
appears to be in motion.
(2) The display may not change the intensity of illumination.
(3) The display may not change the message more than once every
four seconds.
5491. Notwithstanding any provision of Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 5200), except as provided in this chapter, no on-premises
advertising display which is used for any of the purposes set forth
and conforming to Section 5490 shall be compelled to be removed or
abated, and its customary maintenance, use, or repair shall not be
limited, whether or not removal or limitation is required because of
any ordinance or regulation of any city or county, without the
payment of fair and just compensation.
5491.1. (a) Any city or county adopting or amending any ordinance
or regulation that regulates or prohibits the use of any on-premises
advertising display that is more restrictive than existing law, shall
include provisions in that ordinance or regulation for the
identification and inventorying of all displays within its
territorial limits that are determined to be illegal or abandoned
pursuant to the law that is in effect prior to the adoption of, or
amendment to, the ordinance or regulation.
(b) The required identification and inventory shall commence not
later than 120 days from the date on which the ordinance or
regulation is adopted or amended and shall be completed in a timely
manner. The population of the city or county, as determined by the
most recent federal census, the number of on-premise advertising
displays located within the city or county, and other relevant
factors may serve as a guide for the purposes of determining what
constitutes "a timely manner" for the purposes of this subdivision.
(c) (1) Upon the completion of the required identification and
inventory, the city or county shall consider, at a public hearing
with opportunity for public comment, whether there is a need for the
ordinance or regulation described in subdivision (a) to take effect.
(2) (A) Any applicable amortization schedule for the ordinance or
regulation adopted or amended pursuant to this section shall not
expire until at least six months after the date on which the city or
county confirms, pursuant to paragraph (1), that there is a
continuing need for that ordinance or regulation to take effect,
unless the amortization period specified in the ordinance is for a
longer term, in which case the remaining term shall apply.
(B) Until the city or county provides, pursuant to paragraph (1),
that there is a continuing need for the ordinance or regulation to
take effect, the new ordinance shall not apply to a change of copy,
change of color, maintenance, or repair made to a sign which
conformed to the prior ordinance unless those changes, maintenance,
or repairs involve a change in location or structure of the sign.
(d) An identification and inventory is not required if a city or
county has undertaken and completed an identification and inventory
of illegal or abandoned displays not more than three years prior to
the date on which the ordinance or regulation described in
subdivision (a) is adopted or amended.
(e) This section does not apply if a city or county adopts or
amends an ordinance or regulation that regulates only new on-premises
advertising displays. For the purposes of this section, a "new
on-premises advertising display" means a display whose structure or
housing has not been permanently affixed to its intended premise on
the date on which the ordinance or regulation is adopted.
5491.2. (a) A city or county may impose reasonable fees upon all
owners or lessees of on-premises business advertising displays for
the purpose of covering its actual cost of inventorying and
identifying illegal or abandoned advertising displays which are
within its jurisdiction. A city or county may exempt from the payment
of these fees the owner of a display identifying an achievement
award, the name of a farm, or the name of a business for which the
farm produces, if the display is located on an operating farm within
an agricultural preserve established pursuant to the Williamson Act
(Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 51200) of Part 1 of Division 1 of
Title 5 of the Government Code), and if the city or county finds
that the exemption will further the purposes of the agricultural
preserve.
(b) The actual cost to the city or county may be fixed upon a
determination of the total estimated reasonable cost. The amount of
that cost and the fee to be charged is exclusively within the
discretion of the city or county.
5492. For purposes of compliance with Section 5491, fair and just
compensation is presumed to be paid upon the payment of the fair
market value of the on-premises advertising display as of the date
written notice is given to the owner of the display requiring
conformance or removal thereof.
Fair market value consists of the actual cost of removal for the
display, the actual cost to repair any damage caused to the real
property or improvements thereon as a result of the removal of the
display, and the actual cost to duplicate the advertising display
required to be removed as of the date written notice requiring
removal for nonconformance is given to the owner by the governmental
body requiring conformance or removal.
5493. (a) As an alternative to payment of fair and just
compensation under Section 5492, a city or county may pay fair and
just compensation to the owner of the on-premises advertising display
by paying the actual replacement cost to the owner for an
on-premises advertising display which shall conform with the laws in
effect that are applicable to the owner's business premises, and
shall include, as part of the actual replacement cost, the actual
cost for removal of the nonconforming on-premises advertising display
and the actual cost of the repair to the real property caused by the
removal of the display.
(b) The sum payable as fair and just compensation to the owner of
any on-premises advertising display shall be the greater of the two
methods provided in subdivision (a) of this section or Section 5492
as the basis for fair and just compensation. In any event, before any
on-premises advertising display is required to be removed, the fair
and just compensation required by subdivision (a) of this section or
Section 5492 shall be paid.
5494. The ordinances and regulations of any city or county,
introduced or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which have provided
for amortization, and which make nonconforming any lawfully in place
erected on-premises advertising displays, shall not be subject to
Section 5491.
(a) All on-premises advertising displays which become
nonconforming as a result of any such ordinance or regulation are
presumed illegal once the amortization period provided by the
ordinance or regulation rendering them nonconforming has lapsed and
conformance has not been accomplished.
(b) If property containing on-premises advertising displays is
annexed to a city or county which introduced or adopted, prior to
March 12, 1983, an ordinance regulating on-premises advertising
displays, the city or county may apply its ordinance or regulation to
the annexed property, and the display shall be deemed illegal upon
expiration of any applicable amortization provided by such ordinance
or regulation. The amortization period is deemed to commence in such
event upon the date of annexation.
(c) When amortization has not been provided in any applicable
preexisting ordinance, annexed nonconforming displays ordered to
conform to ordinances or regulations of any city or county shall be
subject to the requirements of Section 5491.
(d) Amendments or modifications to ordinances or regulations of
any city or county adopted prior to March 12, 1983, including
amendments which require removal of additional displays or displays
which had previously been made conforming, shall be subject to the
requirements of Section 5491 if such amendment or modification makes
the ordinance being amended or modified more restrictive or
prohibitive.
(e) Ordinances or regulations of any city or county introduced or
adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which have terminated or will
terminate, may be reenacted and are not subject to Section 5491 if
reenacted within 12 months of their termination, and if upon
reenactment they are not made more restrictive or prohibitive than
the preexisting ordinance or regulation.
5495. A city or county whose ordinances or regulations are
introduced or adopted after March 12, 1983, and any amendments or
modifications to those ordinances and regulations, are not in
violation of Section 5491 if the entity elects to require the removal
without compensation of any on-premise advertising display which
meets all of the following requirements:
(a) The display is located within an area shown as residential or
agricultural on a local general plan as of the date the display was
lawfully erected.
(b) The display is located within an area zoned for residential or
agricultural use on the date the display was lawfully erected.
(c) The display is not required to be removed because of an
overlay zone, combining zone, special sign zone, or any other special
zoning district whose primary purpose is the removal or control of
advertising displays.
(d) The display is allowed to remain in existence after March 12,
1983, for a period of 15 years from the date of adoption of the
ordinance or regulation. For purposes of this section, every sign has
a useful life of 15 years. Fair and just compensation for signs
required to be removed during the 15-year period and before the
amortization period has lapsed shall be entitled to fair and just
compensation which is equal to 1/15 of the duplication cost of
construction of the display being removed multiplied by the number of
years of useful life remaining for the sign as determined by this
section.
5495.5. A city or county with an ordinance or regulation introduced
or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which is applicable to
designated areas within the city or county less than the entire city
or county is not in violation of Section 5491 for an ordinance or
regulation introduced or adopted on or after March 12, 1983, even
though it requires removal of on-premises advertising displays in
additional portions of the city or county, if the city or county
adopts not more than two such ordinances or regulations on or after
March 12, 1983, and if the total effect of the ordinance, or
regulation is to apply to less than the entire city or county, and
such new ordinance or regulation provides reasonable amortization for
conformance. "Reasonable amortization," for purposes of this
section, shall not be less than 15 years from the date each such
ordinance or regulation was adopted. If these conditions are not met,
the city or county is subject to Section 5491 with respect to all
those ordinances and regulations.
5496. A city or county, whose ordinances or regulations are
otherwise in full compliance with Section 5491 is not in violation of
that section if it elects to deactivate, without compensation, any
flashing or rotating features of the on-premises advertising display,
unless the flashing or rotating feature of the display has
historical significance.
5497. A city or county, whose ordinances or regulations were
introduced or adopted after March 12, 1983, or any amendments to
those ordinances and regulations, is not in violation of Section 5491
if it elects to require the removal, without compensation, of any
on-premise advertising display which meets any of the following
criteria:
(a) Any advertising display erected without first complying with
all ordinances and regulations in effect at the time of its
construction and erection or use.
(b) Any advertising display which was lawfully erected anywhere in
this state, but whose use has ceased, or the structure upon which
the display has been abandoned by its owner, for a period of not less
than 90 days. Costs incurred in removing an abandoned display may be
charged to the legal owner.
(c) Any advertising display which has been more than 50 percent
destroyed, and the destruction is other than facial copy replacement,
and the display cannot be repaired within 30 days of the date of its
destruction.
(d) Any advertising display whose owner, outside of a change of
copy, requests permission to remodel and remodels that advertising
display, or expand or enlarge the building or land use upon which the
advertising display is located, and the display is affected by the
construction, enlargement, or remodeling, or the cost of
construction, enlargement, or remodeling of the advertising display
exceeds 50 percent of the cost of reconstruction of the building.
(e) Any advertising display whose owner seeks relocation thereof
and relocates the advertising display.
(f) Any advertising display for which there has been an agreement
between the advertising display owner and the city or county, for its
removal as of any given date.
(g) Any advertising display which is temporary.
(h) Any advertising display which is or may become a danger to the
public or is unsafe.
(i) Any advertising display which constitutes a traffic hazard not
created by relocation of streets or highways or by acts of any city
or county.
(j) Ordinances adopted by a city within three years of its
incorporation, which incorporation occurs after March 12, 1982, shall
not be subject to Section 5491 except as provided by Section 5494.
(k) Notwithstanding subdivision (j), for any city or county
incorporated after January 1, 1989, an ordinance initially adopted
within three years of incorporation, or any amendment thereto within
that three-year period, may require removal without compensation,
except that no removal without compensation may be required within 15
years from the effective date of that ordinance or amendment.
5498. (a) Sections 5491 and 5495 do not apply to redevelopment
project areas created pursuant to the Community Redevelopment Law
(Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000) of Division 24 of the Health
and Safety Code), planned commercial districts, or to areas listed or
eligible for listing on the National Register of Historical Places,
or areas registered by the Department of Parks and Recreation as a
state historical landmark or point of historical interest pursuant to
Section 5021 of the Public Resources Code, or areas created as
historic zones or individually designated properties by a city or
county, pursuant to Article 12 (commencing with Section 50280) of
Chapter 1 of Division 1 of Title 5 of the Government Code.
(b) As used in this section, "planned commercial districts" means
areas subject to binding agreements, including, but not limited to,
conditions, covenants, restrictions, which do all of the following:
(1) Affect on-premise advertising displays.
(2) Are at least as restrictive as any ordinance of a city or
county, which affects on-premise advertising displays at the time the
agreement was entered into.
(3) Contain a binding financing commitment sufficient to carry out
the agreements.
5498.1. A city or county may not deny, refuse to issue, or
condition the issuance of a business license or a permit to construct
a new legal on-premises advertising display upon the removal,
conformance, repair, modification, or abatement of any other
on-premises advertising display on the same real property where the
business is to be or has been maintained if both of the following
apply:
(a) The other display is located within the same commercial
complex which is zoned for commercial occupancy or use, but at a
different business location from that for which the permit or license
is sought.
(b) The other display is not owned or controlled by the permit
applicant, and the permit applicant is not the agent of the person
who owns or controls the other display.
5498.2. (a) During the amortization period for a nonconforming
legally in place on-premises advertising display's continued use, a
city or county may not deny, refuse to issue, or condition the
issuance of a permit for modification or alteration to the display
upon change of ownership of any existing business if the modification
or alteration does not include a structural change in the display.
(b) Subdivision (a) of this section does not apply to any
ordinance introduced or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, or adopted
pursuant to subdivision (j) of Section 5497, if the ordinance
contains no specific amortization schedule, but instead requires
conformity upon change of ownership.
5499. Regardless of any other provision of this chapter or other
law, no city or county shall require the removal of any on-premises
advertising display on the basis of its height or size by requiring
conformance with any ordinance or regulation introduced or adopted on
or after March 12, 1983, if special topographic circumstances would
result in a material impairment of visibility of the display or the
owner's or user's ability to adequately and effectively continue to
communicate with the public through the use of the display. Under
these circumstances, the owner or user may maintain the advertising
display at the business premises and at a location necessary for
continued public visibility at the height or size at which the
display was previously erected and, in doing so, the owner or user is
in conformance.
5490. (a) This chapter applies only to lawfully erected on-premises
advertising displays.
(b) As used in this chapter, "on-premises advertising displays"
means any structure, housing, sign, device, figure, statuary,
painting, display, message placard, or other contrivance, or any part
thereof, that has been designed, constructed, created, intended, or
engineered to have a useful life of 15 years or more, and intended or
used to advertise, or to provide data or information in the nature
of advertising, for any of the following purposes:
(1) To designate, identify, or indicate the name or business of
the owner or occupant of the premises upon which the advertising
display is located.
(2) To advertise the business conducted, services available or
rendered, or the goods produced, sold, or available for sale, upon
the property where the advertising display has been lawfully erected.
(c) As used in this chapter, "introduced or adopted prior to March
12, 1983," means an ordinance or other regulation of a city or
county which was officially presented before, formally read and
announced by, or adopted by the legislative body prior to March 12,
1983.
(d) This chapter does not apply to advertising displays used
exclusively for outdoor advertising pursuant to the Outdoor
Advertising Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5200)).
(e) As used in this chapter, illegal advertising displays do not
include legally erected, but nonconforming, displays for which the
applicable amortization period has not expired.
(f) As used in this chapter, "abandoned advertising display" means
any display remaining in place or not maintained for a period of 90
days which no longer advertises or identifies an ongoing business,
product, or service available on the business premise where the
display is located.
(g) (1) For the purpose of this chapter, an on-premises
advertising display that is located within the boundaries of a
development project, as defined by Section 65928 of the Government
Code, that identifies the name of the development project, its
business logo, or the goods, wares, and services existing or
available within the development project, shall continue to be deemed
an on-premise advertising display regardless of any of the following
occurrences:
(A) The creation or construction, in or about the project, of a
common parking area, driveway, thruway, alley, passway, public or
private street, roadway, overpass, divider, connector, or easement
intended for ingress or egress, regardless of where or when created
or constructed, and whether or not created or constructed by the
project developer or its successor, or by reason of government
regulation or condition.
(B) The sale, transfer, or conveyance of an individual lot,
parcel, or parcels less than the whole, within the development
project.
(C) The sale, transfer, conveyance, or change of name or
identification of a business within the development project.
(D) The subdivision of the parcel that includes the development
project in accordance with the Subdivision Map Act (Division 2
(commencing with Section 66410) of Title 7 of the Government Code).
(2) This subdivision shall not be applicable in any case in which
its application would result in a loss of federal highway funds by
the State of California.
(3) This subdivision applies to all counties and general law or
charter cities.
5490.5. (a) For purposes of this chapter, "message center" is an
advertising display where the message is changed more than once every
two minutes, but no more than once every four seconds.
(b) On-premise message centers visible to traffic from any
interstate or primary highway shall meet all of the following
requirements:
(1) The display may not include any message that is in motion or
appears to be in motion.
(2) The display may not change the intensity of illumination.
(3) The display may not change the message more than once every
four seconds.
5491. Notwithstanding any provision of Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 5200), except as provided in this chapter, no on-premises
advertising display which is used for any of the purposes set forth
and conforming to Section 5490 shall be compelled to be removed or
abated, and its customary maintenance, use, or repair shall not be
limited, whether or not removal or limitation is required because of
any ordinance or regulation of any city or county, without the
payment of fair and just compensation.
5491.1. (a) Any city or county adopting or amending any ordinance
or regulation that regulates or prohibits the use of any on-premises
advertising display that is more restrictive than existing law, shall
include provisions in that ordinance or regulation for the
identification and inventorying of all displays within its
territorial limits that are determined to be illegal or abandoned
pursuant to the law that is in effect prior to the adoption of, or
amendment to, the ordinance or regulation.
(b) The required identification and inventory shall commence not
later than 120 days from the date on which the ordinance or
regulation is adopted or amended and shall be completed in a timely
manner. The population of the city or county, as determined by the
most recent federal census, the number of on-premise advertising
displays located within the city or county, and other relevant
factors may serve as a guide for the purposes of determining what
constitutes "a timely manner" for the purposes of this subdivision.
(c) (1) Upon the completion of the required identification and
inventory, the city or county shall consider, at a public hearing
with opportunity for public comment, whether there is a need for the
ordinance or regulation described in subdivision (a) to take effect.
(2) (A) Any applicable amortization schedule for the ordinance or
regulation adopted or amended pursuant to this section shall not
expire until at least six months after the date on which the city or
county confirms, pursuant to paragraph (1), that there is a
continuing need for that ordinance or regulation to take effect,
unless the amortization period specified in the ordinance is for a
longer term, in which case the remaining term shall apply.
(B) Until the city or county provides, pursuant to paragraph (1),
that there is a continuing need for the ordinance or regulation to
take effect, the new ordinance shall not apply to a change of copy,
change of color, maintenance, or repair made to a sign which
conformed to the prior ordinance unless those changes, maintenance,
or repairs involve a change in location or structure of the sign.
(d) An identification and inventory is not required if a city or
county has undertaken and completed an identification and inventory
of illegal or abandoned displays not more than three years prior to
the date on which the ordinance or regulation described in
subdivision (a) is adopted or amended.
(e) This section does not apply if a city or county adopts or
amends an ordinance or regulation that regulates only new on-premises
advertising displays. For the purposes of this section, a "new
on-premises advertising display" means a display whose structure or
housing has not been permanently affixed to its intended premise on
the date on which the ordinance or regulation is adopted.
5491.2. (a) A city or county may impose reasonable fees upon all
owners or lessees of on-premises business advertising displays for
the purpose of covering its actual cost of inventorying and
identifying illegal or abandoned advertising displays which are
within its jurisdiction. A city or county may exempt from the payment
of these fees the owner of a display identifying an achievement
award, the name of a farm, or the name of a business for which the
farm produces, if the display is located on an operating farm within
an agricultural preserve established pursuant to the Williamson Act
(Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 51200) of Part 1 of Division 1 of
Title 5 of the Government Code), and if the city or county finds
that the exemption will further the purposes of the agricultural
preserve.
(b) The actual cost to the city or county may be fixed upon a
determination of the total estimated reasonable cost. The amount of
that cost and the fee to be charged is exclusively within the
discretion of the city or county.
5492. For purposes of compliance with Section 5491, fair and just
compensation is presumed to be paid upon the payment of the fair
market value of the on-premises advertising display as of the date
written notice is given to the owner of the display requiring
conformance or removal thereof.
Fair market value consists of the actual cost of removal for the
display, the actual cost to repair any damage caused to the real
property or improvements thereon as a result of the removal of the
display, and the actual cost to duplicate the advertising display
required to be removed as of the date written notice requiring
removal for nonconformance is given to the owner by the governmental
body requiring conformance or removal.
5493. (a) As an alternative to payment of fair and just
compensation under Section 5492, a city or county may pay fair and
just compensation to the owner of the on-premises advertising display
by paying the actual replacement cost to the owner for an
on-premises advertising display which shall conform with the laws in
effect that are applicable to the owner's business premises, and
shall include, as part of the actual replacement cost, the actual
cost for removal of the nonconforming on-premises advertising display
and the actual cost of the repair to the real property caused by the
removal of the display.
(b) The sum payable as fair and just compensation to the owner of
any on-premises advertising display shall be the greater of the two
methods provided in subdivision (a) of this section or Section 5492
as the basis for fair and just compensation. In any event, before any
on-premises advertising display is required to be removed, the fair
and just compensation required by subdivision (a) of this section or
Section 5492 shall be paid.
5494. The ordinances and regulations of any city or county,
introduced or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which have provided
for amortization, and which make nonconforming any lawfully in place
erected on-premises advertising displays, shall not be subject to
Section 5491.
(a) All on-premises advertising displays which become
nonconforming as a result of any such ordinance or regulation are
presumed illegal once the amortization period provided by the
ordinance or regulation rendering them nonconforming has lapsed and
conformance has not been accomplished.
(b) If property containing on-premises advertising displays is
annexed to a city or county which introduced or adopted, prior to
March 12, 1983, an ordinance regulating on-premises advertising
displays, the city or county may apply its ordinance or regulation to
the annexed property, and the display shall be deemed illegal upon
expiration of any applicable amortization provided by such ordinance
or regulation. The amortization period is deemed to commence in such
event upon the date of annexation.
(c) When amortization has not been provided in any applicable
preexisting ordinance, annexed nonconforming displays ordered to
conform to ordinances or regulations of any city or county shall be
subject to the requirements of Section 5491.
(d) Amendments or modifications to ordinances or regulations of
any city or county adopted prior to March 12, 1983, including
amendments which require removal of additional displays or displays
which had previously been made conforming, shall be subject to the
requirements of Section 5491 if such amendment or modification makes
the ordinance being amended or modified more restrictive or
prohibitive.
(e) Ordinances or regulations of any city or county introduced or
adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which have terminated or will
terminate, may be reenacted and are not subject to Section 5491 if
reenacted within 12 months of their termination, and if upon
reenactment they are not made more restrictive or prohibitive than
the preexisting ordinance or regulation.
5495. A city or county whose ordinances or regulations are
introduced or adopted after March 12, 1983, and any amendments or
modifications to those ordinances and regulations, are not in
violation of Section 5491 if the entity elects to require the removal
without compensation of any on-premise advertising display which
meets all of the following requirements:
(a) The display is located within an area shown as residential or
agricultural on a local general plan as of the date the display was
lawfully erected.
(b) The display is located within an area zoned for residential or
agricultural use on the date the display was lawfully erected.
(c) The display is not required to be removed because of an
overlay zone, combining zone, special sign zone, or any other special
zoning district whose primary purpose is the removal or control of
advertising displays.
(d) The display is allowed to remain in existence after March 12,
1983, for a period of 15 years from the date of adoption of the
ordinance or regulation. For purposes of this section, every sign has
a useful life of 15 years. Fair and just compensation for signs
required to be removed during the 15-year period and before the
amortization period has lapsed shall be entitled to fair and just
compensation which is equal to 1/15 of the duplication cost of
construction of the display being removed multiplied by the number of
years of useful life remaining for the sign as determined by this
section.
5495.5. A city or county with an ordinance or regulation introduced
or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, which is applicable to
designated areas within the city or county less than the entire city
or county is not in violation of Section 5491 for an ordinance or
regulation introduced or adopted on or after March 12, 1983, even
though it requires removal of on-premises advertising displays in
additional portions of the city or county, if the city or county
adopts not more than two such ordinances or regulations on or after
March 12, 1983, and if the total effect of the ordinance, or
regulation is to apply to less than the entire city or county, and
such new ordinance or regulation provides reasonable amortization for
conformance. "Reasonable amortization," for purposes of this
section, shall not be less than 15 years from the date each such
ordinance or regulation was adopted. If these conditions are not met,
the city or county is subject to Section 5491 with respect to all
those ordinances and regulations.
5496. A city or county, whose ordinances or regulations are
otherwise in full compliance with Section 5491 is not in violation of
that section if it elects to deactivate, without compensation, any
flashing or rotating features of the on-premises advertising display,
unless the flashing or rotating feature of the display has
historical significance.
5497. A city or county, whose ordinances or regulations were
introduced or adopted after March 12, 1983, or any amendments to
those ordinances and regulations, is not in violation of Section 5491
if it elects to require the removal, without compensation, of any
on-premise advertising display which meets any of the following
criteria:
(a) Any advertising display erected without first complying with
all ordinances and regulations in effect at the time of its
construction and erection or use.
(b) Any advertising display which was lawfully erected anywhere in
this state, but whose use has ceased, or the structure upon which
the display has been abandoned by its owner, for a period of not less
than 90 days. Costs incurred in removing an abandoned display may be
charged to the legal owner.
(c) Any advertising display which has been more than 50 percent
destroyed, and the destruction is other than facial copy replacement,
and the display cannot be repaired within 30 days of the date of its
destruction.
(d) Any advertising display whose owner, outside of a change of
copy, requests permission to remodel and remodels that advertising
display, or expand or enlarge the building or land use upon which the
advertising display is located, and the display is affected by the
construction, enlargement, or remodeling, or the cost of
construction, enlargement, or remodeling of the advertising display
exceeds 50 percent of the cost of reconstruction of the building.
(e) Any advertising display whose owner seeks relocation thereof
and relocates the advertising display.
(f) Any advertising display for which there has been an agreement
between the advertising display owner and the city or county, for its
removal as of any given date.
(g) Any advertising display which is temporary.
(h) Any advertising display which is or may become a danger to the
public or is unsafe.
(i) Any advertising display which constitutes a traffic hazard not
created by relocation of streets or highways or by acts of any city
or county.
(j) Ordinances adopted by a city within three years of its
incorporation, which incorporation occurs after March 12, 1982, shall
not be subject to Section 5491 except as provided by Section 5494.
(k) Notwithstanding subdivision (j), for any city or county
incorporated after January 1, 1989, an ordinance initially adopted
within three years of incorporation, or any amendment thereto within
that three-year period, may require removal without compensation,
except that no removal without compensation may be required within 15
years from the effective date of that ordinance or amendment.
5498. (a) Sections 5491 and 5495 do not apply to redevelopment
project areas created pursuant to the Community Redevelopment Law
(Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000) of Division 24 of the Health
and Safety Code), planned commercial districts, or to areas listed or
eligible for listing on the National Register of Historical Places,
or areas registered by the Department of Parks and Recreation as a
state historical landmark or point of historical interest pursuant to
Section 5021 of the Public Resources Code, or areas created as
historic zones or individually designated properties by a city or
county, pursuant to Article 12 (commencing with Section 50280) of
Chapter 1 of Division 1 of Title 5 of the Government Code.
(b) As used in this section, "planned commercial districts" means
areas subject to binding agreements, including, but not limited to,
conditions, covenants, restrictions, which do all of the following:
(1) Affect on-premise advertising displays.
(2) Are at least as restrictive as any ordinance of a city or
county, which affects on-premise advertising displays at the time the
agreement was entered into.
(3) Contain a binding financing commitment sufficient to carry out
the agreements.
5498.1. A city or county may not deny, refuse to issue, or
condition the issuance of a business license or a permit to construct
a new legal on-premises advertising display upon the removal,
conformance, repair, modification, or abatement of any other
on-premises advertising display on the same real property where the
business is to be or has been maintained if both of the following
apply:
(a) The other display is located within the same commercial
complex which is zoned for commercial occupancy or use, but at a
different business location from that for which the permit or license
is sought.
(b) The other display is not owned or controlled by the permit
applicant, and the permit applicant is not the agent of the person
who owns or controls the other display.
5498.2. (a) During the amortization period for a nonconforming
legally in place on-premises advertising display's continued use, a
city or county may not deny, refuse to issue, or condition the
issuance of a permit for modification or alteration to the display
upon change of ownership of any existing business if the modification
or alteration does not include a structural change in the display.
(b) Subdivision (a) of this section does not apply to any
ordinance introduced or adopted prior to March 12, 1983, or adopted
pursuant to subdivision (j) of Section 5497, if the ordinance
contains no specific amortization schedule, but instead requires
conformity upon change of ownership.
5499. Regardless of any other provision of this chapter or other
law, no city or county shall require the removal of any on-premises
advertising display on the basis of its height or size by requiring
conformance with any ordinance or regulation introduced or adopted on
or after March 12, 1983, if special topographic circumstances would
result in a material impairment of visibility of the display or the
owner's or user's ability to adequately and effectively continue to
communicate with the public through the use of the display. Under
these circumstances, the owner or user may maintain the advertising
display at the business premises and at a location necessary for
continued public visibility at the height or size at which the
display was previously erected and, in doing so, the owner or user is
in conformance.
