[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 229 (Friday, November 28, 1997)] [Notices] [Pages 63411-63412] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 97-31244] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Highway Administration [FHWA Docket No. FHWA-97-2907] Outdoor Advertising Control AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT. ACTION: Notice and request for comments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Nevada Department of Transportation (NVDOT) proposes to amend the Highway Beautification Federal/State Agreement dated January 21, 1972, between the United States of America represented by the Secretary of Transportation and the State of Nevada. DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 29, 1997. ADDRESSES: Submit written, signed comments to FHWA Docket FHWA-97-2907, the Docket Clerk, U.S. DOT Docket Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, D.C. 20590. All comments received will be available for examination at the above address between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Those desiring notification of receipt of comments must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope/postcard. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert A. Johnson, Chief, Program Services Division, Office of Real Estate Services, HRE-20, (202) 366- 2020; or Mr. Robert Black, Office of Chief Counsel, HCC-31, (202) 366- 1359, Federal Highway Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, D.C. 20590. Office hours are from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 (HBA), codified at 23 U.S.C. Sec. 131, requires States to provide effective control of outdoor advertising in the areas adjacent to both the Interstate System and Federal-aid primary system. States must provide effective control as a condition of receiving their full apportionment of Federal-aid Highway Funds. Effective control of outdoor advertising includes prohibiting the erection of new advertising signs except for certain categories of signs listed at Sec. 131(c). One of these sign categories, ``off premise'' signs, may be allowed by a State in zoned or unzoned commercial or industrial areas. Signs in such areas must conform to the requirements of an agreement between the State and the Federal Government which establishes size, lighting, and spacing criteria consistent with customary use. The agreement between Nevada and the FHWA was executed January 21, 1972. The 1972 agreement states that the State of Nevada may permit signs to be erected no closer than 500 feet from an intersection outside ``incorporated villages and cities.'' The amendment to the agreement, the exact language of which is set forth below, would use the term ``urbanized area boundaries'' as defined by 23 U.S.C. Sec. 101(a) in place of ``incorporated villages and cities.'' In April 1980 the FHWA adopted a procedure to be followed if a State requested a change in the Federal/State agreement. A State must first submit its proposed change, along with the reasons for the change and the effects of such change, to the FHWA Division Office. The Division, Region, and headquarters offices all review and comment on the proposal. If the concept is approved, the State must then hold public hearings on the proposed change to receive comments from the public. If the State then wishes to amend the agreement, it must submit: (1) the justification for the change; (2) the record of the hearings; and (3) an assessment of the impact. These are summarized and published in the Federal Register for comments. Comments on the proposed amended agreement will then be evaluated by the FHWA. The FHWA will then decide if the agreement should be amended as proposed and will publish its decision in the Federal Register. An amended agreement will then be sent to the State for signature. Nevada has completed the above procedure up to the point of publishing in the Federal Register. No negative comments were received in response to the State's public hearings on this proposed change, and several supportive comments were received. Nevada's formal request provides justification for the proposed revision to the 1972 Federal/ State Agreement. The primary issue is that the term ``urbanized area boundaries'' would be more consistent with the Code of Federal Regulations (23 CFR 750, Subpart G) which speaks primarily of urban areas, rather than incorporated cities, towns, or villages. The change in the agreement is aimed primarily at effective control of billboards in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada, where a vast part of the metropolitan area is outside the incorporated city limits of Las Vegas. The State of Nevada believes that this change in the agreement could allow between 20 and 24 new billboard sites primarily in the Las Vegas area. The State maintains that this would result in minimal aesthetic impact because the urban areas are generally developed and contain numerous on-premise signs. The Proposed Change The Federal/State Agreement ``For Carrying Out the National Policy Relative to Control of Outdoor Advertising in Areas Adjacent to the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways and the Federal-Aid Primary System'' made and entered on January 21, 1972, between the United States of America represented by the Secretary of Transportation acting by and through the Federal Highway [[Page 63412]] Administrator and the State of Nevada now reads at Section III: STATE CONTROL, Paragraph 2. b. Spacing of Signs, as follows: ``Outside of incorporated villages and cities, no structure may be located adjacent to or within 500 feet of an interchange, intersection at grade, or safety rest area. Said 500 feet to be measured along the Interstate or freeway from the beginning or ending of pavement widening at the exit from or entrance to the main-traveled way.'' The amended agreement would read as follows: ``Outside of urbanized area boundaries, as defined by 23 U.S.C. 101(a), no structure may be located adjacent to or within 500 feet of an interchange, intersection at grade, or safety rest area. Said 500 feet to be measured along the Interstate or freeway from the beginning or ending of pavement widening at the exit from or entrance to the main-traveled way.'' Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; 49 CFR 1.48. Issued on: November 19, 1997. Kenneth R. Wykle, Federal Highway Administrator. [FR Doc. 97-31244 Filed 11-26-97; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-22-P