Authority: IC
8-23-2-6;
IC
8-23-20-25
Affected: IC
8-23-20-25.6
Sec. 13.
A conditional permit may be granted to any nonconforming
sign, provided that the sign has not been substantially changed after the date
upon which it became a nonconforming sign, and as follows:
(1) A nonconforming sign with a conditional
permit must remain substantially the same as it was on the date that its status
became nonconforming. A permittee may make customary maintenance or repair on a
nonconforming sign. However, a nonconforming sign may not be the object of any
activity after which the sign did not remain substantially the same as it was
on the date that its status initially became a nonconforming sign, except for
activities performed after the occurrence of an event described in subdivision
(7)(A) through (7)(C). Any such activity prohibited by the immediately
preceding sentence shall automatically and permanently transform the
nonconforming sign's status to that of an illegal sign, with the permit for any
such sign subject to revocation and which sign is subject to removal by the
department.
(2) Customary
maintenance or repair on a nonconforming sign includes any of the following
permissible activities, all of which shall not require any addendum to a permit
for such sign:
(A) Nailing, cleaning, and
painting.
(B) Replacement of nuts
and bolts.
(C) Replacement of
structural components, including vertical supports and sign faces, with the
same material so long as the sign is not destroyed.
(D) Changes in the advertising
message.
(E) Upgrading existing
lighting for energy efficiency or worker safety.
(F) Addition of catwalks, safety cables, or
handrails when required to resolve safety concerns by the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration or the Indiana department of labor.
(G) The sale, lease, or transfer of the sign
or its permit.
(3)
Customary maintenance or repair on a nonconforming sign does not include any of
the following prohibited activities (all of which are considered a substantial
change that automatically and permanently transforms the nonconforming sign
into an illegal sign):
(A) Increasing the
number of vertical supports or changing the vertical support materials, such as
replacing wooden supports with metal, or replacing I-beams with a
monopole.
(B) Increasing the height
of the sign.
(C) Changing the
physical location.
(D) Changing the
configuration of a sign structure, including changing a V-shaped sign to a
stacked sign, a side-by-side sign, or a back-to-back sign, or changing a single
face sign to a V-shaped sign, a stacked sign, a side-by-side sign, or a
back-to-back sign.
(E) Increasing
the overall size or dimensions of the sign face, or any other addition of a
sign face.
(F) Adding bracing
(whether temporary or permanent), guy wires, concrete, or other reinforcing
devices.
(G) Adding variable or
changeable message capability.
(H)
Adding lighting, either attached or unattached, to a sign that previously did
not have lights, or adding more intense lighting to an illuminated sign, except
if done in accordance with subdivision (2)(E).
(I) Rebuilding, repair of (other than
customary maintenance or repair on a nonconforming sign), or reerecting a sign
structure after substantial damage from wear and tear, or other natural causes,
unless the department has given its approval to do so by granting an addendum
to the sign's permit in accordance with subdivision (5).
(J) Relocating all or a portion of a sign,
unless relocating pursuant to IC
8-23-20-25.6(c)(2)
and section 24 of this rule.
(K) Turning the direction of a sign
face.
(L) Any repair, maintenance,
or improvement that causes the sign to be erected or maintained in a manner
contrary to its conditional permit.
(4) The list of permitted activities in
subdivision (2) and the list of prohibited activities in subdivision (3) are
not exclusive lists of those respective activities and the department shall
determine in each other situation whether:
(A) the sign remained substantially the same
as it was on the date the sign became a nonconforming sign after the completion
of any specific activity performed for the nonconforming sign; and
(B) the specific activity performed had the
effect of substantially changing the nonconforming sign or materially extending
the life of the nonconforming sign beyond its normal life.
It shall be presumed that any additional activities otherwise
permitted involving the replacement of materials will materially extend the
life of a nonconforming sign beyond its normal life, if the sign was destroyed
when such activity was performed.
(5) In the event that a permittee wishes to
perform activities on a nonconforming sign in a manner that might exceed
customary maintenance or repair on a nonconforming sign, the permittee shall
submit a completed modification request for an addendum to the sign permit on a
form to be provided by the department, or through the electronic permitting
system, together with an addendum fee of one hundred dollars ($100). In the
event of a damaged or destroyed sign, the modification request shall contain,
at a minimum, the following:
(A) An
explanation of the extent of the damage to the sign and the scope of repairs
needed.
(B) Whether the sign was
damaged by normal wear and tear, weather, or by other natural causes, or
whether the sign was damaged or destroyed by some act covered by subdivision
(7)(A) through (7)(C).
(C) Clear
color on-site photographs of the sign and all salvageable parts
thereof.
(D) A specific description
of the work to be undertaken on the nonconforming sign.
After receiving the modification request, the department will
promptly consider the modification request and determine, in accordance with
the standards in this section, whether the requested activity should be
permitted or prohibited, and within sixty (60) days give a written notice of
its decision to the permittee. If the permittee or its representative performs
activities not specifically listed in subdivision (2) on a nonconforming sign
without submitting a modification request under this subdivision and receiving
an authorization for the addendum from the department, or if the permittee or
its representative performs any such activity after the department issued its
decision that any such activity was prohibited, then the performance of such
activity automatically and permanently transforms the nonconforming sign into
an illegal sign subject to revocation of its permit and removal in accordance
with subdivision (1).
(6) Any modification approved by the addendum
under this section must be completed within three hundred sixty-five (365) days
of the date of issuance of the addendum, or the department's approval under the
addendum expires without further action needed on the part of the department.
No extension of time shall be granted by the department.
(7) A conditional permit for a nonconforming
sign shall be revoked by the department if the sign is destroyed, abandoned,
obsolete, or discontinued, provided that the sign may be reerected or otherwise
fixed if the department so approves and the sign was destroyed by:
(A) vandalism;
(B) another criminal act; or
(C) a tortious act.
(8) Proof of an act described in subdivision
(7)(A) through (7)(C) can be shown by timely reports or complaints to the
appropriate county sheriff or police department. Any such act, for purposes of
this rule, must:
(A) not involve the
carelessness or negligence of the permittee, the property owner, or business
that is advertised on the sign (collectively, the "sign parties"), or any
owner, officer, employee, agent, representative, or independent contractor of
any of the sign parties; and
(B)
involve the damage or destruction by one (1) or more persons not connected,
directly or indirectly, to any of the sign parties.
(9) The permittee has the burden of proof
that:
(A) the nonconforming sign was damaged
or destroyed by an act described in subdivision (7)(A) through (7)(C); and
(B) each of the conditions
precedent in subdivision (8) are true.
(10) If a nonconforming sign was destroyed or
the sign was damaged to the extent that the sign is illegal and subject to
removal, the permittee has the obligation to perform any repair or other
activity on the sign that will preserve the safety of persons who might
otherwise be subject to injury or damage to their property from the remnants of
the sign prior to the sign's removal. Any such repair or other activity will
not change the illegal status of the nonconforming sign.
