This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah Department of Transportation is holding a public hearing Wednesday on the first major overhaul of billboard regulations in a decade.
The rewrite of rules is primarily aimed at presenting state requirements in a more clear and logical format, said Krissy Plett, who oversees UDOT's outdoor advertising issues.
"It just makes our process very transparent so there's no guessing what's going to happen," she said. "I wouldn't say anything substantial [is changing.] We took out anything that conflicted with the statute or the federal-state agreement."
One of those conflicts is a current rule requiring permission from a resident within 100 feet of a new billboard proposed on commercial- or industrial-zoned property, in addition to government agencies.
Utah's "Outdoor Advertising Control Act gives no statutory authority for this provision in the rule," and another section of the law prohibits a rule that is more restrictive than the statute, according to a summary of the rule change.
Plett said in the two years she has worked on the program she has not seen any new sign located in such close proximity to a residential property and she is not aware if notifying such a homeowner has been a past practice.
The public hearing is set for 10 a.m. at UDOT headquarters, John Njord Conference Room, 4501 So. 2700 West, Taylorsville.