§ 481. Definitions

As used in this chapter, the following terms are defined as follows:

(1) "Limited access facility" shall have the same meaning as defined in 19 V.S.A. § 1702.

(2) "Official business directional sign" means a sign erected and maintained by the State to indicate to the travelling public the route and the distance to public accommodations, commercial services for the travelling public, and points of scenic, historic, cultural, educational, and religious interest.

(3) "On-premises sign" means an accessory sign that directs attention to a business, profession, commodity, service, or entertainment carried on, sold, or offered on the same premises.

(4) "Outdoor advertising" means a sign that advertises, calls attention, or directs a person to a business, association, profession, commodity, product, institution, service, entertainment, person, place, thing, or activity of any kind whatsoever, and is visible from a highway or other public right-of-way.

(5) "Residential directional sign" means an off-premises sign erected and maintained by an individual to indicate the location of his or her residence.

(6) A "sign" is any structure, display, device, or representation, either temporary or permanent, portable or ground-mounted, that is designed or used to advertise or call attention to any thing, person, business, activity, or place and is visible from any highway or other right-of-way. It does not include the flag, pennant, or insignia of any nation, state, or town. Whenever dimensions of a sign are specified, they shall include panels and frames.

(7) "Sign plaza" means any area established and maintained by the Agency of Transportation adjacent to a highway, where official information plaza plaques are grouped in tiers or on panels.

(8) "Traffic control sign or device" means an official route marker, guide sign, warning sign, or sign directing traffic to or from a bridge, ferry, or airport, or sign regulating traffic, that has been erected by officers having jurisdiction over the highway.

(9) "Official information plaza plaque" means a plaque erected and maintained by the State to indicate to the travelling public: public accommodations, commercial services for the travelling public, and points of scenic, historic, cultural, educational, and religious interest, installed at an information plaza.

(10) "Full-sized official business directional sign" means a sign not exceeding 1,200 square inches. "Half-sized official business directional sign" means a sign not exceeding 300 square inches.

(11) "Owner" means the person or persons who own a sign. Wherever it is required under this chapter to provide notice to the actual owner or owners of a sign but is impractical to do so, it shall be conclusively presumed that the person, firm, or corporation advertised on the sign is the agent of the actual owner or owners. Notice served on any such agent shall have the same effect as notice provided the actual owner or owners.

(12) "Travel information" means the various communication media and methods available to collect and distribute information to the traveling public. (Added 1967, No. 333 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. March 23, 1968; amended 1969, No. 92, § 1, eff. April 19, 1969; 1983, No. 167 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2; 1993, No. 121 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 1, 2.)