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A.(1)  The department shall acquire by donation, purchase, lease, exchange, or expropriation and, when required by state or federal law, shall pay just compensation upon the removal of the following outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices:

(a)  Those lawfully in existence on July 27, 1966.

(b)  Those lawfully on any highway made a part of the interstate or primary systems on or after the effective date of this Part and before January 1, 1968, and

(c)  Those lawfully erected on or after January 1, 1968.

(2)  Such just compensation is authorized to be paid only for the taking from the owner of such sign, display, or device of all right, title, lease and interest in such sign, display, or device; and the taking from the owner of the land on which the sign, display, and device is located of the right to erect and maintain such signs, displays, and devices thereon.

(3)  However, notwithstanding the above provisions, such payment shall be made by the department upon the removal of any sign, display, or device erected along the interstate or primary systems prior to January 31, 1972 if seventy-five percent of the cost thereof is made available from federal sources.

(4)  For the purposes of this Section, just compensation shall mean payment in cash.  The cost of relocation may be considered a factor for purposes of determining just compensation. The use of amortization for whatever period shall not constitute just compensation.

(5)  Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, should the state or any of its political subdivisions remove or alter or cause to be removed or altered, any lawfully erected off-premise advertising signs just compensation as defined herein shall be paid.

B.  The department shall schedule and program the acquisition and removal of outdoor advertising signs, displays, and devices, required or to be acquired under this Section, in accordance with the following order of priority:

(1)  Hardship acquisitions, the voluntary sales where owners desire an expeditious removal of their legal nonconforming signs, and other situations which suggest expeditious action to avoid hardships and conflicts; provided, however, that any owner desiring to make such sale so advise the department within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of Paragraph B of this Section.

(2)  All other except for tourist oriented directional advertising as hereafter defined.

(3)  Tourist oriented directional advertising is defined to be those signs providing directional information about facilities in the state of Louisiana providing services or goods of particular interest to the motorist while traveling such as, but not limited to food, lodging, gasoline, oil, automotive services, camp grounds, trailer parks, truck stops, resorts, tourist attractions, churches and religious services.

C.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in accordance with state law and department regulations on outdoor advertising, the following procedures shall apply to conforming out-of-standard signs, subject to expropriation by the department as follows:

(1)  Owners of conforming out-of-standard signs who voluntarily execute a partial waiver and reset agreement with the department may reset and illuminate a conforming out-of-standard sign.  Such reset agreement shall be contingent upon obtaining any required local approval to reset such conforming out-of-standard sign, as well as the approval of the landowner of the same or adjoining property.

(2)  The partial waiver and the reset agreement shall specify the width and height of the sign face, the overall height of the sign, the sign type, the type of illumination, the type of construction, the distance to the nearest sign, and the location of the rebuilt sign.  In the event the owner of the conforming out-of-standard sign fails to execute a reset agreement within one hundred twenty days of receiving written notice from the department that the conforming out-of-standard sign will be displaced by construction, the department shall initiate normal expropriation procedures, and the owner of the conforming out-of-standard sign shall receive compensation for removal of the conforming out-of-standard sign.

(3)  All conforming out-of-standard signs shall be subject to annual permit fees provided in department regulations on outdoor advertising.

Acts 1966, No. 474, §1; Acts 1972, No. 546, §1; Acts 1978, No. 187, §1, eff. Aug.  11, 1978; Acts 1989, No. 382, §1, eff. June 30, 1989; Acts 1990, No. 6, §1, eff. June 4, 1990; Acts 2010, No. 616, §1.