STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

STATE OF FLORIDA, ) DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 86-2286T

)

EAGLE OUTDOOR, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice the Division of Administrative Hearings by its duly designated Hearing Officer, K. N. Ayers, held a public hearing in the above- styled case on August 29, 1986, at Bartow, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Charles G. Gardner, Esquire

Department of Transportation (DOT) Haydon Burns Building

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

For Respondent: Melvin E. Godwin, pro se

Manager, Eagle Outdoor 3014 Horatio

Tampa, Florida 33609

By letter dated May 13, 1986, DOT, Petitioner, advised Eagle Outdoor, Respondent, that the signs for which permits AQ446-25 and AQ447-25 had been issued had not been erected within the time required by law for such erection and the permits became void. By letter dated June 5, 1986, Respondent requested this hearing to contest this issue.

At the hearing Petitioner called one witness, Respondent called one witness and four (4) exhibits were admitted into evidence. No proposed recommended orders have been submitted by the parties in the time allotted. There is no dispute regarding the facts of this case.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Upon receipt of application for sign permit on U.S. 92 (Gandy Boulevard) .0125 mile west of Dale Mabry Highway, in Tampa, Florida, accompanied by City of Tampa building permit DOT on July 26, 1985 approved the application and tags AQ446-25 and AQ447-25 were issued (Exhibit 1).

   
   

2. The City of Tampa subsequently notified Respondent that the building permit had been issued in error and was revoked.

3. The proposed sign is located within 200 feet of the Cross-Town Expressway. City of Tampa Ordinance No. 6343 (Exhibit 3) passed April 6, 1976, provided that no sign could be erected closer than 200 feet to the right of way of the Cross-Town Expressway. That ordinance contained a provision allowing non- conforming signs to continue to be maintained until March 1, 1986, after which all such non-conforming signs shall be removed. Since Respondent's proposed sign would be non-conforming the City voided the building permit it erroneously issued.

   
   

4. At the hearing Respondent surrendered tags no. AQ446-25 and AQ447-25 to Petitioner and withdrew its claim to these tags.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

5. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the parties to, and the subject matter of, these proceedings.

   
   

6. Section 479.07, Florida Statutes, regulates the issuance of sign permits and requires the applicant to present evidence that he has the permission of the owner of the property to erect the proposed sign and he has approval from the local government to erect the sign or will have such approval if State approval is a prerequisite to local approval. In addition Section 479.07(5)(a) provides in pertinent part:

   
   

   The permit will become void unless the permit tag is properly and permanently displayed at the permitted site within 30 days after the date of permit issuance. If the permittee fails to erect a completed sign on the proposed site within 270 days after the date on which the permit was issued, the permit will be void, and the Department may not issue a new permit to that permittee for the same location for 270 days after the date on which the permit became void.

   
   

7. By failing to erect the sign for which DOT had issued a permit within

   270 days from the date the permit was issued, the permit became void. The fact that the Respondent's building permit was revoked by the City of Tampa and this procluded Respondent from erecting the sign is not material. The building permit itself is the necessary instrument for the applicant to have before the permit application may be approved.

   
   

8. The words of the statute above quoted are clear and need no interpretation beyond the ordinary meaning of the wards used therein.

Therefore, the permits for these signs became void by operation of law upon the expiration of 270 days after the permit was issued and no structure was erected. It is

RECOMMENDED that a Final Order be issued voiding the permits issued to Eagle Outdoor for a sign along U.S. 92 0.125 miles west of Dale Mabry Boulevard in Tampa, Florida.

ENTERED this 24th day of September, 1986 in Tallahassee, Florida.

Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 24th day of September, 1986.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Charles G. Gardner, Esquire Department of Transportation Haydon Burns Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Melvin E. Godwin, Manager Eagle Outdoor

3014 Horatio

Tampa, Florida 33609

Thomas Drawdy, Secretary Department of Transportation Haydon Burns Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301

A. J. Spalla, Esquire General Counsel

Department of Transportation

562 Haydon Burns Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Docket for Case No: 86-002286

Orders for Case No: 86-002286