Sign Companies’ Fight to Clarify State Regulation of On-Premise Signage Rages On
For many years, billboards and other off-premise signs have been subject to regulations on both a municipal and a state level. On-premise signs are generally exempt from state controls, regulated instead only through local permits. But newly proposed regulations in Kentucky could have a significant impact on any on-premise signs visible from interstates and highways. On behalf of the on-premise sign industry, ISA’s Kenny Peskin (@signcodeguy) met with senior officials from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) in Frankfort, Ky. on July 25. This most recent meeting followed ISA testimony offered in February in opposition of an earlier version of the regulations.
Under the proposals, on-premise signs still do not require a state-issued permit, but they still must comply with the provisions of the state regulations. This distinction has proven important in several other states when sign owners are ordered to comply with longstanding regulations (dating back decades) that never have been enforced since adoption.
Many of the key objections raised by ISA included (1) a failure of the state to include on-premise sign users as an affected group in the regulatory impact statement. (2) the improper application of billboard-appropriate definitions to describe (and regulate) on-premise signs, (3) a failure to recognize that on-premise signs often are not permanently attached to the ground and may overhang the right-of-way (sidewalk), and (4) that the state regulations lack provisions to preserve historically protected signs that may display obsolete content. Other objections and minor clarifications filled the 20 pages of ISA’s written comments submitted to the state.
In April, the KYTC response “agreed that further clarification should be made between on-premise and off-premise signage in the four (4) proposed regulations and will reevaluate the language. However, the staff has not released any reevaluated language for public review. ISA plans to continue meeting with KYTC staff in the coming months as part of its work to improve statewide regulations in Kentucky so as to minimize the impacts on the on-premise sign industry.
For additional information, please contact ISA’s Kenneth Peskin or Midwest Sign Association (MSA) Executive Director Dee Scott.
