STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF )

TRANSPORTATION, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 76-1105T

)

RICH OIL COMPANY, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held in the above styled cause in Room 104, Collins Building, Tallahassee, Florida on October 5, 1976 at 11:20 a.m. before Delphene C. Strickland, assigned Hearing Officer of the Division of Administrative Hearings.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Philip Bennett, Esquire

Department of Transportation Haydon Burns Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

For Respondent: Glen E. Rich

U. S. Highway 90 West Post Office Box 158 Bonifay, Florida

ISSUE

Whether the Respondent erected and maintained outdoor advertising signs without a proper permit and in violation of the set-back laws of Chapter 479, Florida Statutes.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Respondent erected an outdoor advertising sign approximately one (1) mile east of State Road 79 on the north side of Interstate 10 right-of-way. The copy on the face of the sign read:

   
   

   "Rich's Truck Stop, Restaurant, Travel Park, CB Radio Shop, Texaco, This Exit."

   
   

   The distance from the sign to the nearest edge of the pavement of I-10 was approximately two hundred thirty-one (231) feet.

2. The Respondent, Mr. Rich, speaking for the partnership Rich Oil Company admitted that the sign was located as stated in the violation notice. The sign was located in a rural area not zoned by a city or by a county.

   
   

3. Respondent erected a second sign located approximately .5 of a mile west of Florida Secondary 181 on the north side of I-10 right-of-way. The sign is painted on the side of a trailer. The size of the sign is nine (9) feet high and forty (40) feet long. The copy states:

   
   

   "Rich's Truck Stop, Exit Highway 79, Marker

   111, Open 24 Hours, Restaurant, Camping, Texaco."

   
   

   The trailer with the sign on it is located approximately one hundred three (103) feet from the nearest edge of the pavement of I-10.

   
   

4. The trailer with the sign painted on it is standing in a pasture in a rural unzoned area. The Respondent Mr. Rich agreed as to the approximate location of the subject sign.

   
   

5. No application for permit was made by the Respondent for either of the two subject signs. Respondent received a Violation Notice from Petitioner stating the signs were in violation of the set-back regulations and were in violation of the statute requiring a state permit.

   
   

6. Contrary to the contentions of Respondent, the Hearing Officer finds that both of the signs which are the subject of this hearing and herein described are in fact "signs." The second described sign painted on the side of a trailer is a "sign" within the standard definition "a lettered board or other display used to identify or advertise a place of business," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Copyright 1974 by G. and C. Merriam Company.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

7. Section 479.11(1), Florida Statutes, Certain outdoor advertising prohibited.-, provides:

   
   

   "No advertisement, advertising sign or advertising structure shall be constructed, erected, used, operated or maintained:

   1. Within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of all portions of the interstate system or the federal-aid primary system except as provided in s. 479.111, or within 15 feet of the outside boundary of any other federal or state highway or within 100 feet of any church, school, cemetery, public park, public reservation, public playground, state or national forest, or railroad intersection outside the limits of any corporated city or town."

      
      

      Both of the subject signs are within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of I-10. Section 479.11(2) provides as follows:

      
      

      "(2) Beyond 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way of all portions of the interstate system or the federal-aid primary

      systems outside of urban areas that is erected with the purpose of its message being read from the main-traveled ways of such system, unless it is of a class or type permitted in subsection 479.111(1) or subsections 479.16(1)

      or (3)."

      
      

8. Respondent's signs are in violation of the foregoing statute for the reason that they are outside of urban areas.

   
   

9. The foregoing signs are in violation of Section 479.07(1) inasmuch as they are signs erected without a state permit.

RECOMMENDATION

Remove both of the subject signs within ten (10) days of the issuance of the Final Order unless said signs have been previously removed by the Respondent.

DONE and ORDERED this 1st day of February, 1977 in Tallahassee, Florida.

DELPHENE C. STRICKLAND

Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings Room 530, Carlton Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

(904) 488-9675

COPIES FURNISHED:

George L. Waas, Esquire Department of Transportation Haydon Burns Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

Mr. O. E. Black, Administrator Outdoor Advertising

Department of Transportation Tallahassee, Florida 32304

Russell A. Cole, Jr., Esquire

123 North Oklahoma Street Bonifay, Florida 32425

Mr. Glen E. Rich Rich Oil Company

U.S. 90 West

Bonifay, Florida 32425

Mr. J. E. Jordan

District Sign Coordinator Post Office Box 607 Chipley, Florida 32428

Docket for Case No: 76-001105

Orders for Case No: 76-001105