Massachusetts § 29 - Powers of outdoor advertising board; rules and regulations; permits; hearings

§ 29. Powers of outdoor advertising board; rules and regulations; permits; hearings

Section 29. The outdoor advertising board, herein and in sections twenty-nine A, thirty A and thirty-one called the board, may make, amend or repeal rules and regulations for the proper control and restriction of billboards, signs and other advertising devices, except as provided in section thirty-two, on public ways or on private property within public view of any highway, public park or reservation. Such rules and regulations may require that said billboards, signs or other devices be located in business, commercial, industrial, marketing or mercantile areas, or on unrestricted commercial arteries and adjacent to commercial enterprises; may prescribe standards of size, setback and clearance, considering the public interest; may require said billboards, signs or other devices to be licensed by the board by the issuance of permits in accordance therewith and with this section; and may prescribe permit fees, to be fixed with regard to the cost of administering this section, and said fees need not be uniform throughout the commonwealth. No permit, whether permanent or temporary, for a billboard, sign or other advertising device shall be issued unless written notice of the application therefor stating the proposed location shall have been given at least thirty days earlier to the city or town in which the proposed billboard, sign or other advertising device is to be located. The board shall delegate to the executive director authority to issue licenses or permits, subject to the provisions of section twenty-nine A, where no objection has been received to the pending application. Except as hereinafter provided, before establishing or amending rules and regulations under this section, the board shall hold duly advertised public hearings in Boston and in such other cities and towns within the commonwealth as it deems necessary or expedient. Cities and towns may further regulate and restrict said billboards, signs or other devices within their respective limits by ordinance or by-law, not inconsistent with sections twenty-nine to thirty-three, inclusive, or with said rules and regulations.