Osage Outdoor Advertising, Inc. v. State Highway Commission of Missouri, WD
| Decision Date | 10 November 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. WD,WD |
| Citation | 624 S.W.2d 535 |
| Parties | OSAGE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, INC., Plaintiff-Respondent, v. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION OF MISSOURI, Defendant-Appellant. 31866. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Bruce A. Ring, Chief Counsel, Curtis F. Thompson, Asst. Counsel, Jefferson City, for defendant-appellant.
Alex Bartlett, Jefferson City, for plaintiff-respondent.
Before TURNAGE, P. J., and PRITCHARD and CLARK, JJ.
Osage Outdoor Advertising brought an action to restrain the State Highway Commission from enforcing a rule pertaining to outdoor advertising signs published in 7 C.S.R. 10-6.070(6). The trial court found the rule to be beyond the power of the Commission to adopt and enjoined the Commission from enforcing the rule. Affirmed.
The Commission on October 15, 1977, adopted the rule in question. The rule was apparently designed to implement the provisions of § 226.550.3, RSMo 1978, 1 which authorizes the Commission to collect a biennial inspection fee for each sign which has been issued a one-time permanent permit pursuant to § 226.550.1-2.
In summary, the rule requires sign owners or the owners of land on which a sign is located to apply to the Commission for a biennial inspection. The application, together with the fee authorized by § 226.550.3, is due on or before the second annual anniversary of the date the permanent permit was issued and each two years thereafter. The rule provides if the application is not made within that time the permit is voidable and notice to remove the sign may be issued under § 226.580 specifying the failure to obtain and maintain a permit. If the application and fee are not received within thirty days after the date of this notice, then the sign is deemed unlawful and shall be removed without compensation.
The application must be submitted to the district engineer on forms supplied by the Commission. The forms must be completed in full and incomplete or incorrectly completed forms shall be rejected. Also, an application without the required fee will be rejected. Any misrepresentation of material fact on any application shall be cause for the district engineer to reject the application and void the permit. When this happens, the sign is then maintained without a permit and is subject to removal.
Any applicant for a biennial inspection must submit to the district engineer on written request for him, written information for documentation, as specified in the request, sufficient for the engineer to determine whether or not a permit shall be renewed. Refusal on the part of the applicant to comply with the written request for information, documentation or assistance shall be grounds for voiding the permit. After notice is given of the voiding of the permit, the sign is then subject to removal under § 226.580.
The rule further provides that any sign not eligible for a permanent permit shall not pass the biennial inspection. Upon the failure of any sign to pass a biennial inspection, the permit is voidable and the engineer shall issue notice to remove. If the defect is not remedied within thirty days, the permit is void and the sign shall be removed under § 226.580.
Upon satisfactory completion of the biennial inspection and payment of the fee, the engineer shall issue a new permit emblem bearing the original permit number which must be attached to the sign within sixty days of issuance. If the emblem is not attached within that time, or if it is used on any other sign, the permit is void and the sign is then maintained without a permit and is subject to removal under § 226.580.
The trial court heard testimony from one employee of the Commission who is involved in inspecting signs. He stated that he had a computer printout of all signs which had been issued a permanent permit. He stated this rule would make it easier to check to see if a sign had a permit because the permanent permit emblem sometimes faded or became separated from the sign. Osage presented one witness who testified to the time and expense imposed upon Osage, as the owner of about one thousand signs in the State, in complying with the rule to make applications for biennial inspections.
The parties agree, as they must, that § 226.530 requires the Commission to issue one-time permanent permits for the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising along the interstate and primary highway systems and "to promulgate only those rules and regulations of minimal necessity and consistent with customary use to secure to this state any federal aid contingent upon...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State ex rel. Whiteco Industries, Inc. v. Bowers
...of St. Louis Div. v. Missouri State Highway Comm'n, 629 S.W.2d 462 (Mo.App. W.D.1981); Osage Outdoor Advertising, Inc. v. State Highway Comm'n of Missouri, 624 S.W.2d 535, 537 (Mo.App. W.D.1981). Mindful of the General Assembly's intent, we begin our analysis of the Before a municipal ordin......
-
Boyce Industries, Inc. v. Missouri Highway and Transp. Com'n
...to be in compliance with federal laws and applicable rules. In support of the argument, Osage Outdoor Advertising, Inc., v. State Highway Commission, 624 S.W.2d 535, 537 (Mo.App.1981), is cited for its It is clear from §§ 226.500 to 226.600 that the legislature undertook to do the bare mini......
-
Burnside v. White, 84-1244
...in Missouri, a rule that conflicts with the sense and meaning of a statute is invalid. See Osage Outdoor Advertising v. State Highway Commission, 624 S.W.2d 535, 537 (Mo.Ct.App.1981). In Osage, a state statute required the State Highway Commission to issue permanent permits for highway bill......
-
Redpath, Noland v. MO Hwy & Transp. Comm'n
...along interstate highways, thereby, precluding Missouri's loss of federal highway funds. Osage Outdoor Advertising, Inc. v. State Highway Comm'n, 624 S.W.2d 535, 537 (Mo. App. W.D. 1981). Both federal and state law permit the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising within 660 feet o......