Section 2718.103 - DefinitionsAs used in this act:
(1.1) "Charitable association" shall mean a not-for-profit group or body of persons which is created and exists for the purpose of performing a humane service; promoting the good and welfare of the aged, poor, infirm or distressed; combating juvenile delinquency; or advancing the spiritual, mental, social and physical improvement of young individuals.(1.2)"Department" shall mean the Department of Transportation of the Commonwealth.(2) "Erect" means to construct, build, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw, or in any other way bring into being or establish, but it shall not include any of the foregoing activities when performed as an incident to the change of advertising message or customary maintenance and repair of a sign or sign structure , including a change of an existing external light fixture to energy efficient lighting provided that, for signs that were legally erected but do not conform to the requirements of this act, such lighting does not require any structural changes to a sign or include any bracing, guy wire or other reinforcing devices or upgrades to the sign's structural support.(3)"Information center" shall mean an area or site established for the purpose of informing the public of places of interest within the Commonwealth and providing such other information as the secretary may consider desirable.(4)"Interstate system" shall mean that portion of the national system of interstate and defense highways located within this Commonwealth, as officially designated, or as may hereafter be so designated, by the secretary and approved by the United States Secretary of Transportation, pursuant to the provisions of Title 23, United States Code, "Highways."(5)"Outdoor advertising device" shall mean any outdoor sign, display, light, figure, painting, drawing, message, plaque, poster, billboard or other thing which is designed, intended or used to advertise or inform.(6)"Primary system" shall mean that portion of connected main highways located within this Commonwealth which now or hereafter may be designated officially by the secretary and approved by the Secretary of Transportation of the United States pursuant to Title 23, United States Code, "Highways."(6.1)"Religious service organization" shall mean a not-for-profit group or body of persons that is created and exists for the predominant purpose of regularly holding or conducting religious activities or religious education, without pecuniary benefit to an officer, member or shareholder, except as reasonable compensation for actual services rendered to the organization.(7)"Safety rest area" shall mean an area or site established and maintained within or adjacent to the highway right-of-way by or under public supervision or control, for the convenience of the traveling public.(7.1) "Secretary" shall mean the Secretary of Transportation of the Commonwealth.(7.2) "Service club" shall mean a not-for-profit club which is created and exists for the purpose of performing a humane service.(8)"Traveled way" shall mean the portion of a roadway for the movement of vehicles, exclusive of shoulders. The term "main-traveled way" means the traveled way of a highway on which through traffic is carried. In the case of a divided highway, the traveled way of each of the separated roadways for traffic in opposite directions is a main-traveled way. The term does not include such facilities as frontage roads, turning roadways, or parking areas.(9)"Unzoned commercial or industrial area" shall mean an area which is not zoned by State or local law, regulation or ordinance, and on which there is located one or more commercial or industrial activities and the area along the highway extending outward eight hundred feet from and beyond the edge of such activity. Unzoned commercial and industrial areas shall not include land on the opposite side of the highway from said activities except that on two or three-lane noncontrolled access highways the unzoned commercial or industrial area may be located on the opposite side of the highway from the commercial or industrial activity, if in the opinion of the secretary, the topographical conditions on the same side of the highway as the activity are such that it is not reasonably usable, and provided that the land on the opposite side of the highway has not been designated scenic by the department. In no event shall such unzoned commercial or industrial area be located on both sides of the highway. All measurements shall be from the outer edges of the regularly used buildings, parking lots, storage or processing areas of the commercial or industrial activities, not from the property lines of the activities, and shall be along or parallel to the edge of the pavement of the highway.(10)"Visible" shall mean capable of being seen (whether or not legible) without visual aid by a person of normal visual acuity.(11)"Zoned commercial or industrial area" shall mean an area which is reserved for business, industry, commerce, trade or other business of any type or category pursuant to a State, or local zoning law, ordinance or regulation.(12)"Commercial or industrial activities" shall mean those activities generally recognized as commercial or industrial by zoning law in the Commonwealth, except that none of the following activities shall be considered commercial or industrial:(i) Outdoor advertising signs.(ii) Agricultural, forestry, grazing, farming, and related activities, including, but not limited to, wayside fresh produce stands.(iii) Activities not visible from the main-traveled way.(iv) Activities conducted in a building principally used as a residence.(v) Railroad tracks and minor sidings.Amended by P.L. TBD 2022 No. 89, § 1, eff. 9/9/2022.1971, Dec. 15, P.L. 596, No. 160, § 3, imd. effective.