Chapter 411 - Advertising Signs

Sec. 21-51. Permit for maintenance of outdoor advertising sign. Exception. No person, firm or corporation, not engaged in the business of outdoor advertising for direct profit, shall erect or maintain any outdoor advertising structure, device or display, other than upon property within two hundred feet of the place where the goods advertised are manufactured or offered for sale, or where the business advertised is carried on, until a permit has been obtained therefor from the Commissioner of Transportation and the permit fees as provided by section 21-52 have been paid. Applications for such permits shall be made in the manner provided by section 21-50.

(1949 Rev., S. 4690; 1972, P.A. 272, S. 3.)

History: 1972 act substituted commissioner of transportation for commissioner of state police.

Sec. 21-52. Fees. (a) The fee for an application for a permit to erect or maintain any outdoor advertising structure, device or display shall be as follows: For each panel, bulletin, or sign containing less than three hundred square feet of advertising space, one hundred dollars; and for each panel, bulletin or sign containing three hundred square feet or more of advertising space, two hundred dollars.

(b) The annual fee for such permit shall be as follows: For each panel, bulletin or sign containing three hundred square feet or less of advertising space, forty dollars; for each panel, bulletin or sign containing more than three hundred and not more than six hundred square feet of advertising space, eighty dollars; and for each panel, bulletin or sign containing more than six hundred square feet and not more than nine hundred square feet of advertising space, one hundred twenty dollars. No sign shall be erected which contains more than nine hundred square feet of advertising space. A fee shall be paid for each side of each panel, bulletin or sign used for advertising, provided, if two panels, bulletins or signs advertising the same products or services are attached to the same support or supports, only one annual permit fee shall be paid for each side thereof and the total advertising space on each side thereof shall be used for computing the annual permit fee of each panel, bulletin or sign. The annual permit fee for any part of a year shall bear the same proportion to the annual permit fee for an entire year that the number of months in such part bears to the entire year. If any such permit is transferred, the transferee shall be assessed a fee of one hundred dollars.

(1949 Rev., S. 4691; 1959, P.A. 635; P.A. 86-209, S. 2, 4; P.A. 03-115, S. 81; P.A. 13-277, S. 11.)

History: 1959 act increased fees for panels, bulletins or signs with 300 square feet or less from $3 to $5, with not more than 600 square feet from $6 to $10 and with not more than 900 square feet from $9 to $15, added proviso re panels attached to same support or supports and changed technical language; P.A. 86-209 inserted new provision, designated as Subsec. (a) re application fee and made previous provisions Subsec. (b), doubling annual permit fees; P.A. 03-115 amended Subsecs. (a) and (b) to double all fees, effective July 1, 2003; P.A. 13-277 amended Subsecs. (a) and (b) to double all fees and, in Subsec. (b), to add provision re fee of $100 for transferred permit.

Sec. 21-53. Issuance of permit. Contents. Termination. Exemption from other permit fee. Upon receipt of an application, as set forth in section 21-50, and the required application and annual permit fees, the Commissioner of Transportation shall cause to be issued a permit for the erection or continued maintenance of the outdoor advertising structure, device or display named in such application, which permit shall state the size of such structure, device or display and the location upon which it is to be erected or maintained and shall be in force until the first day of August next following the date thereof. Any advertisement displayed upon any such structure or device shall be exempted from the payment of any other permit fee during the period covered by such permit.

(1949 Rev., S. 4692; 1972, P.A. 272, S. 4; P.A. 86-209, S. 3, 4.)

History: 1972 act substituted commissioner of transportation for commissioner of state police; P.A. 86-209 added reference to application fee.

See Sec. 13a-123 re requirement that signs, etc. licensed under chapter conform to regulations and standards.

Sec. 21-54. Foreign applicant to file bond. A permit shall not be granted to a person, firm or corporation having his or its principal place of business outside of the state, for the display of any advertisement or the erection of any billboard or other structure designed and intended for the display of advertising matter until such person, firm or corporation has furnished and filed with the Commissioner of Transportation a bond to the state, satisfactory to said commissioner, in such sum as he determines, conditioned that such permittee shall fulfill all requirements of law and the regulations and orders of said commissioner relating to the display of advertisements, and otherwise conditioned as he may determine. Such bond shall remain in full force and effect as long as any obligations of such permittee to the state remain unsatisfied.

(1949 Rev., S. 4697; 1972, P.A. 272, S. 5; P.A. 81-335, S. 2, 6.)

History: 1972 act substituted commissioner of transportation for commissioner of state police; P.A. 81-335 deleted reference to licensee and substituted permittee in lieu thereof consistent with repeal of licensing provisions in Sec. 21-49.

Sec. 21-55. When permit not required. The provisions of this chapter shall not require a permit for any advertising sign containing six square feet or less, from any town, city, borough, fire district or incorporated fire company, service club or church or ecclesiastical society in this state for any advertisement owned by it and advertising its industries or attractions and maintained at either public or private expense.

(1949 Rev., S. 4693; 1955, S. 2337d; P.A. 81-335, S. 3, 6.)

History: P.A. 81-335 deleted reference to license consistent with repeal of licensing provisions in Sec. 21-49.

Sec. 21-56. Permit numbers. The Commissioner of Transportation shall provide with each permit issued for the display of advertising, under the provisions of this chapter, a permit number which shall be painted on each structure in legible figures not less than two inches in height and at the following locations on such advertising billboards and signs: Poster boards, on the top moulding at a point nearest the highway or street; signs erected on a single post, on the face of the post under the sign. The provisions of this section shall not apply to advertising signs or displays on or in railroad stations intended for display to the patrons of railroads.

(1949 Rev., S. 4694; 1972, P.A. 272, S. 6.)

History: 1972 act substituted commissioner of transportation for commissioner of state police.

Sec. 21-57. Advertising signs to be kept in good repair. Each advertising structure, device or display shall be substantially built, well and neatly painted and kept in good repair. When it comes to the attention of the Commissioner of Transportation that any advertising structure, device or display is unsightly by reason of its lack of paint or repair, said commissioner shall notify the permittee in writing to either repaint or repair such structure, device or display within thirty days of the service of such notice and, if the permittee fails to comply with such notice, said commissioner may cause the removal of such defective advertising structure, device or display, and may collect from the permittee the cost of such removal. For the purpose of inspection of any advertising structure, device or display, subject to permit under the provisions of this chapter, and for the purposes of removal of illegal and offending advertising structures, devices or displays, said commissioner and his agents shall have the right of entry on the premises upon which any such illegal or offending advertising device or display is located.

(1949 Rev., S. 4695; 1972, P.A. 272, S. 7.)

History: 1972 act substituted commissioner of transportation for commissioner of state police.

Sec. 21-58. Prohibited locations. Advertisements and signs shall not be displayed within one hundred feet of any public park, state forest, playground or cemetery, or within fifteen feet from the outside line of any highway outside the thickly settled or business part of a city or town, except upon the walls of a building in which the goods advertised are offered for sale or the business advertised is conducted, and except signs erected by the state or a town or city which solely indicate highway directions, traffic regulations and dangerous places. No provision of this section shall affect any ordinance or regulation established by any municipality.

(1949 Rev., S. 4696.)

Sec. 21-59. Change in location may be ordered. The Commissioner of Transportation may order the removal or change in location of any advertisement when, in his opinion, such advertisement will obstruct a clear view along any highway, or when it is within the legal limits of any highway, and said commissioner may order the removal of any advertisement displayed contrary to any statutory provision. If the person, firm or corporation in control of or owning any advertisement which has been ordered removed or changed in its location, as provided in this section, does not remove such advertisement within thirty days after such order of removal or change has been sent to such person, firm or corporation by said commissioner by registered or certified mail, said commissioner may cause such advertisement to be removed and the expense of such removal may be collected from the person, firm or corporation owning or controlling the same in an action based on the provisions of this section, or from the sureties on the bond filed by such person, firm or corporation.

(1949 Rev., S. 4698; P.A. 96-180, S. 74, 166.)

History: P.A. 96-180 substituted “Commissioner of Transportation” for “said commissioner”, effective June 3, 1996.

Sec. 21-60. Removal of advertising matter. The Commissioner of Transportation, the selectmen of any town or the mayor of any city shall cause to be removed any advertisement or sign displayed contrary to the provisions of this chapter. Said state, town or city officials shall remove all advertisements less than six square feet in size which are located within the prohibited area defined in section 21-58, except such as are permitted under the provisions of section 21-61.

(1949 Rev., S. 4699; 1969, P.A. 768, S. 248; 1972, P.A. 272, S. 8.)

History: 1969 act substituted commissioner of transportation for state highway department; 1972 act deleted requirement that removal be requested by the commissioner of state police.

Sec. 21-61. Exemption as to location. Notwithstanding any statutory provision to the contrary, the Commissioner of Transportation may, with the consent of the selectmen of a town, the mayor of a city or the warden of a borough, permit the erection of advertising signs designed to benefit local residents or industries, within the limits of highways, other than limited access highways, but not in any location where such signs will obstruct the view along any highway.

(1949 Rev., S. 4700; 1951, S. 2338d; 1959, P.A. 526, S. 8; 1969, P.A. 768, S. 249.)

History: 1959 act excepted limited access highways; 1969 act substituted commissioner of transportation for highway commissioner.

See Sec. 13a-123 re requirement that signs conform to regulations and standards adopted under that section.

Sec. 21-62. “Display” defined. Name of advertiser. The word “display”, as used in this chapter and in other statutes relating to advertisements and signs, means erecting, maintaining, pasting, painting and posting any advertisement or sign out-of-doors or erecting or maintaining any billboard or other structure designed and intended for the display of advertising matter where the same may be seen by the public, or allowing any such advertisement, billboard or other structure to remain exposed, in whole or in part, to public view, and includes the act itself and the causing of such act to be done. The obligation to pay permit fees shall apply and be in force for such time as such advertisement or sign or any part thereof remains visible and as long as any board or structure or any part thereof erected or built for the purpose of displaying advertising matter thereon remains exposed to public view. All advertisements and all billboards and structures designed for the display of advertising matter thereon shall show the name of the person, firm or corporation displaying such advertisements or owning or leasing such billboards and structures.

(1949 Rev., S. 4701; P.A. 81-335, S. 4, 6.)

History: P.A. 81-335 deleted reference to license consistent with repeal of licensing provisions in Sec. 21-49.

Sec. 21-63. Penalty. Any person who erects, maintains, displays or allows to remain in view an advertisement, sign or billboard or any structure designed for the display of advertising matter contrary to any provision of this chapter shall be in violation of a provision of this chapter. The Commissioner of Transportation shall impose a civil penalty in an amount of one hundred dollars for each day on which the violation occurs. Prior to imposing a penalty under this section, the commissioner shall send such person a written notice of the violation by certified mail, return receipt requested. If such person terminates or corrects the violation by the fifteenth day following such person's receipt of such notice, the commissioner shall not impose such penalty on such person for such violation. Any such violation that continues for more than sixty consecutive days shall be cause for revocation of the permit granted pursuant to this chapter with which the violation is associated.

(1949 Rev., S. 4702; P.A. 05-210, S. 35.)

History: P.A. 05-210 deleted “fined not more than one hundred dollars for each sign so displayed” and added provisions re imposition of civil penalty by Commissioner of Transportation and revocation of permit, effective July 1, 2005.

Cited. 212 C. 176.

Cited. 41 CS 66.